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Vancouver Riot After Stanley Cup Defeat (Photos, Video)
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by Jordan Yerman | June 15, 2011 at 07:55 pm
5164 views | 3 Recommendations | 6 comments
Canucks Fans Riot as Bruins Win 2011 Stanley Cup
Enraged Canucks fans took to the streets in a riot as Vancouver lost the Stanley Cup in Game 7. It started slow, but reports of violence and vandalism are emerging. Cars have been set on fire, a bus have been overturned, Boston Bruins fans beaten up, and someone fell from the Georgia viaduct.
Downtown Vancouver was packed for hours before the game even started (for Vancouver, this was bigger than the Olympics), and Vancouver is seeing its first riot since, well, the last time the Canucks lost in the Stanley Cup finals, which was in 1994 against the New York Rangers.
Despite an elevated police presence, rioting has broken out in downtown Vancouver. The final score of the game was Boston 4-0 Vancouver. There was a very heavy police presence downtown after the game: I walked home amid lots of pissed-off fans to see cops with video cameras: the reverse documentation along with large numbers of police seemed to keep most people calm. It seemed to work, but not for long. At this point [10:30pm local time], the police are on the verge of using force to clear the rioters from the downtown core.
I only encountered one street fire and a few broken bottles, but the situation has definitely been escalating. I use the term "riot" here, though it isn't centralized, or as intense as other acts of civil unrest we've covered recently (for example, Spain, Egypt, Syria, Yemen, and other places with something to actually riot about). Still, we're talking about a hockey game, and not an oppressive regime.
Don't throw stuff at cops. It's a very stupid thing to do. And remember, kids: you have to come back downtown in the morning to go to work. Exactly how much broken glass and burnt metal do you want to wade through?
A friend who works Vancouver General Hospital said that they declared a Code Orange, and are swamped with new trauma admits, including a man who got stabbed in the neck.
One thing about the Vancouver hockey riot: it's very, very well-documented, which seemed to encourage those who were causing trouble, rather than deterring them: those that I recorded were only too happy to mug for the camera. The problem (for the rioters) is that the police can use Twitpic and YouTube, too.
Watch this space for photos and video of the Vancouver riot.
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Jordan Yerman
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
NowPublic Staff
Vancouver, Canada
Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (6)
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randy groening (not verified)at 21:39 on June 15th, 2011
why do we have to have people make a bad name for canuck fans. They are not fans just a few drunk fans who want to riot and give van a bad rep. grow up. and to the guys who beat up the boston bruins fan. shamw on u! hope your found and convicted
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yayaya (not verified)at 23:35 on June 15th, 2011
this was pre plan by a small group who burned it for everyone
at 03:24 on June 16th, 2011
Not Canadian behavior
at 07:41 on June 16th, 2011
Canucks fans are justified in our rage... but rioting solves nothing. The people who we are furious at, predominately high-placed officials in the <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 />NHL and refs that did everything in their power to ensure a game Seven are not the ones who suffer. And the goons in the crowd back in Boston who were urinating and spitting on Canucks fans, or throwing beer and trash at them, they are likely not the ones who are going to be willing to travel. There are better ways to deal with the root causes of the loss. Six games of one-sided reffing, and an obvious double-standard at hockey ops, for example. Get Mike Murphy fired. There is a strong case going back years, that shows he is anti Vancouver. Get the refs fired. The only time they were even handed was while they were refusing to call penalties in last night; though one can assume they were told by the higher ups in the NHL to drag it out the way they did. Even were violence the answer, it should not be at home. When your boss is being an ass, do you light the office on fire? Trash your house when your wife/husband/spouse gets on your case?
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adam chan (not verified)at 14:44 on June 16th, 2011
vancouver today - Over million dollars spent on cops, vehicles and cop cars set on fire, standing off and taunting the police and riot squat, over 200 street brawls in in downtown Vancouver , massive vandalism, sexual assaults, group violence , bascially a riot over hockey, over a sport, fucking cry-babies! .Today only, i wish i was a cop. Fanboy-douchbagism in full explosion. ppl are cheering and happy as they destroy property and burn cars and start fights. wow I am embarrass to be canadian ."Fans" in any form is not the same as healthy admiration coz FANS = Glorify tribalism = misplace identity = ppl with no talent who hate their own lives . Maslow should be taught in every elementary school - its pretty bad when psychology is needed to teach common sense lol. I always wonder whos worse MMA fans or Hockey Fans - now i know :(.
at 09:38 on June 20th, 2011
Or Football fans in the <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 />US? Or Baseball fans? Or Football (soccer) fans in the UK an Europe? Riots after sporting events are not unknown throughout the world. The hypocrisy of the media outlets in the US and Britain in particular, calling Vancouver a city of sore losers, is ridiculous considering the same thing has happened in their nations following various sporting events. The riot was inexcusable. But it is not unique to Vancouver, and it was NOT representative of the people of Vancouver. Yes, many otherwise law abiding citizens did take part, but the core group were a known mob of professional rabble rousers and anarchists. Just watch, pictures will appear soon from the BC civil liberties association, claiming police brutality, and it will be the same faces from the riot during the Olympics, the same faces from the many otherwise peaceful protests that have gotten out of hand over the years. They start trouble, their friends video-tape of photograph the police response, and then the BCCLA start crying foul after the part where they assault the police officer is safely deleted from the footage.
Also, sweeping generalizations and persuasive definitions of a particular group are not only fallacious, but destroy the credibility of your argument. Moreover, it shows your own bias against that group, rather than proving anything about them as a whole. You talk about teaching psychology to school children; what would Freud say about your tirade? Well, probably something unrelated about your mother, but a modern psychologist would have no less to say, and certainly of a more poignant nature. It smacks of an unhealthy resentment towards a huge group of people based on the acts of a few. Stereotyping and discriminatory comments do not a valid argument make. Your pent up rage against sports fans is worth nothing, unless you can articulate a valid reason for it. Opinions, as they say, are like a**holes. Everyone has one, and they usually stink.