From Darling to Scourge: Vancouver Destroys its Olympic Legacy in One Night

This isn't a design post but under the circumstances of what happened tonight I felt a need to post my thoughts.

It was beautiful warm afternoon. The city was abuzz in anticipation of a hockey game that would hopefully bring the biggest prize home. It was game seven of the Stanley Cup Finals. I had been down to West Georgia and Richards for game six to watch with an excited sea of fans and had a good time even though they got blown out in four minutes. Tonight I made my way down an hour earlier than Monday and it was even more packed than it was two days ago. The crowd was pumped and the energy was amazing. As I made my way through the tightly packed crowd I looked forward to watching a great game. I was invited to my friend's studio to watch the game but I wanted to be "amongst the crazies" for at least part of the game. I actually said those words not realizing just how prophetic that description would be. As we waited for the game to start the crowd would come to life every time they were pictured on the television. They sang the national anthem heartily and booed every Bruin that was pictured on the screen. When the puck dropped to finally start the game a mighty roar went up as the crowd anticipated big things from the home team.

Shortly after Bergeron scored the opening goal I saw a full bottle of gatorade sail through the air in front of me. I shook my head and hoped that no one was hurt by that. Soon after, I took a bottle to the back of the head. Some moron in the crowd behind me decided it was a good idea to take his bottle of coke that was still about a quarter full and chuck it in to the crowd in front of him. Thankfully I didn't take the cap end but it still smarted and it throbbed for a few minutes. I saw another bottle fly through the air a few minutes after that and that pretty much cemented the deal for me. I had debating whether I wanted to stay for the second period briefly but I decided I'd had enough. As the buzzer sounded ending the opening frame I headed out. Making my way through the crowd I hit a bottle neck part way through and some of those caught in the crush started to get a little less friendly pushing and yelling. I definitely wanted out now. After a few minutes of being patient and picking my way through the crowd I finally got free and headed up to Adam & Kev's studio on Granville Street.

Granville was full of loitering crowds hooting and hollering. The energy was uneasy and I felt a little less comfortable even though I had more personal space and even with the police presence. I chalked it up to the alcohol fueled nervous energy of a crowd worried about their home team being down after the first frame. The vibe in Adam & Kev's studio was noticeably more positive. Maybe it was the energy of a small group of friend hanging out to watch the game but I felt a lot more at ease watching the rest of the game. Well, things didn't go as planned for the Canucks and they surrendered three more goals on route to a 4-0 loss to the Bruins and dreams of bringing Lord Stanley's mug went out the window. A bunch of us decided to go up on the roof to watch the crowds on Granville.

We could see quite a ways down Granville and as people emptied out of bars it reminded me of the Olympics. A lot of people shoulder to shoulder. Just a little less joyous. I think part of me expected the worst but hoped it wouldn't happen. I saw one agitated guy yelling obscenities at who I think were his friends (or former friends). I saw another idiot yelling "F*ck Boston!" as he walked down the street trying to get other people to high five him on the street. We saw some black smoke wafting behind a condo building and wondered what that was from. A random idiot decided it would be funny to throw an orange at us before going back to get more. He went back twice more for bags of oranges and must have hurled at least a dozen oranges up at us. One orange even landed through the open skylight of a neighbouring studio. I tried to convince everyone to get off the roof as our presence was obviously encouraging his behaviour. As we climbed down the ladder back down in to the studio, news trickled in that a car was on fire. Some of the group wanted to check it out. I had my reservations about going down but they seemed to think it would be ok. We exited into the alley and got down to the end of the block only to find a group of people had surrounded an overturned car and cheering on vandals who were throwing newspaper boxes at it, smashing windows and jumping up and down on it. A cameraman filming the event was attacked and as he beat a hasty retreat towards a group of police down the block a crowd chased him. I looked back at my friends and said this wasn't good. We all nodded in agreement when suddenly the crowd came rushing back towards us. The police had obviously made some sort of move to try and push the crowd back and we beat a hasty retreat down the alley. We decided to head back to the studio and hide out there until things calmed down. We noticed tear gas coming from the end of the alley where we had been a few minutes before.

Back inside the studio we watched the CBC news feed and learned the area on Georgia and Richards by the CBC which had once been designated a fan zone was now considered a riot area. Police had warned anyone staying in the area risked being arrested and I watched the live news feed appalled as hundreds of people stayed and refused to disperse as some morons taunted and challenged police. The news anchor began to count the number of fires she could see from her vantage point as more reports trickled in about cars being set on fire and shops being smashed and looted. The Bay was ransacked and a nearby liquor store was emptied by looters. I watched as a large group of people surround two police cars and begin smashing them. One was flipped on it's side briefly before they began trying to set them on fire. A lone man aggressively argued and taunted police in riot gear as numerous people tried to convince him to walk away. One woman was thrown to the ground by him before riot police began swinging batons at him. That still didn't deter him as he continued his verbal barrage. A previously calm Granville street now had riot police firing tear gas into the crowd to disperse the crowd. The two police cars that had been attacked were now fully engulfed in flames as black smoke billowed into the sky. More news trickled in about cars in a parking structure on Seymour Street being set ablaze as well as more shops being smashed and looted.

As I watched the news footage in disbelief the thing that disturbed me the most was the number of people who seemed to be laughing and cheering on the people who were tearing the city apart. A large number of them seemed to be there to take pictures and pose in front of burning cars as if it were some sort of keepsake to be proud of. I couldn't understand how those people couldn't comprehend that their presence was enabling the hooligans. All I could think was, "just go home. Please. This is embarrassing and disgraceful. It's just a hockey game." I could smell some teargas wafting through the open skylight and heard numerous flashbangs go off as police continued to try and disperse the crowds on the street in front of the studio.

As the night wore on more news about violence, looting and a reported death (edit: As far as I know no confirmed death had been officially reported by the morning). The stupidity of onlookers was unbelievable. A few hours later at 10:30pm, four of us decided we would try and get to a skytrain station and get home. As we got to the front door on the ground floor I saw through the glass doors a line of riot police in full gear marching down the street. I could smell the tear gas through the door and wondered allowed if we should be exiting this way. We decided we would rather be in police presence than slinking down alley ways. We asked police politely for directions on how to move down streets that looked cordoned off. One of us was walking down past the library on her way home so we decided to walk with her for safety. It was eerie. It felt like a war zone. Police in riot gear everywhere. Helicopters buzzing overhead. As we walked past the CBC building it was sad to see the destruction. Burned out cars, overturned port-a-potties, massive amounts of garbage on the street. Even worse was overhearing the conversations of people who laughed about running from police and participating in some of the riots and vandalizing. I don't understand how these people can be proud of destroying this beautiful city. A city that had hosted a world with much celebration and fanfare a year ago now had the eyes of the world on it once more as it burned. An Olympic legacy destroyed overnight. I have been telling my friends what a great city Vancouver is since i moved here. I've even tried to convince some of them to move here. I don't know how I can now. It's embarrassing. I'm ashamed to be a resident of this city today. I'm saddened as a Canadian.

Riots erupt in Vancouver after Canucks loss

Nearly 150 injured, some seriously, in Vancouver Riot

Photos of Vancouver rioting

An article in the Globe and mail about Busting myths of Vancouver’s destructive Stanley Cup riot.

UPDATE:

It's the morning after the riots. I've been downtown for a meeting. There are crowds of people around the Bay building downtown. The windows are boarded up and people are signing the boards in a show of support and condemning the riots and violence from the previous night. Volunteer groups and individuals arrived garbage bags, brooms and cleaning supplies in hand picking up debris, garbage and cleaning vandalized art and walls. A pair of girls wiped orange spray paint off a piece of artwork on Granville Street and I overheard them talking about how they needed some water to help wash off some of the paint. I was on my way to a meeting but I popped in to Starbucks and picked up two bottles of water and dropped them off to the girls. It's not much but I suppose any little thing I can do will help. The mood was sombre. Almost sad. I hope after all of the coverage that Vancouver got last night, this side of Vancouver gets as much coverage. This is the Vancouver that I can be proud of. Selfless acts of kindness and a sense of community to help try and undo the damage that was done last night by a handful of imbeciles.

An article about the thousands that came down to help clean up this morning.

A Facebook album of some of the people who came down to help clean up.