Letters from the Front Lines: Vancouver Riot

My Escape from Downtown Vancouver

The West Georgia swamp, before the riot, on June15. Photo by Foxtongue

I wanted to submit what I witnessed that night to share a different perspective with everyone. Like many other people, my group of friends and I wanted to be part of the history that might unfold later that night. I had been over to Vancouver for a week beforehand and had been at the fan zone for many nights so I knew to get there early. My friends took the 8:30 am ferry and met me downtown at around noon, after which we headed down to the fan zone.

Having been there before, I knew that I did not want to be stuck in that crowd so we sat on the ledge by the Canada Post building. We slowly watched as the streets got more and more crowded all day.  By 3 pm, the entire block was standing room only.  We got what looked like the best spot. We also noticed a car parked in the parking lot of Canada Post. Even before the game started, we all knew that car was toast. People were already standing on it and sitting on it. The crowd just seemed to get bigger and bigger and by game time you could hardly move. By then you could tell something was going to happen, there were too many people in such a tiny space. People were sitting on the billboard and on the porta-potties (by the end of the second period, two had already collapsed), climbed trees and even tried to squish in where we were…on a small ledge with a 6 foot drop.

People were trying to climb up for passage elsewhere. Our good spot didn’t seem like a great idea anymore, but it was still better than being in the crowd 6 feet below. During the first period, you could see the crowd start getting tense…our team was not doing that well and more people were still trying to get in. A few times during the game you could see the crowd turn into something like a mosh pit…people swaying with those around them, there was no other way to stay up, stop moving and you will be pushed to the ground…

After the first period, some people decided they had had enough and left.  For a bit, it seemed like more people were leaving than coming but that didn’t last long. By the start of the third period, it was packed again but you could tell these were different people — less jerseys were in the crowd and people seemed…angry.  About mid-way through the third period, people started “testing” the car: they were rocking it back and forth…not to the tipping point but enough to draw a reaction.

Photo by Foxtongue

At one point I swore the tree with 7 people in it was going to fall: the people below seemed very nervous. Bottles were flying all throughout the game, firecrackers were going off — it really all did seem okay until that empty net goal. You saw the crowd move away from the far side of the car, and seconds later it was tipped. Then some guy set off two fire extinguishers (who brings those to a freaking hockey game :S) and that is when we decided to get out of there. I almost pushed a guy off the back of the ledge because he wouldn’t let me out: he was too busy video taping the idiots down below. I pushed my way through and twisted my ankle — adrenalin is weird, I didn’t even feel it until later that night. 

Photo by BrittneyBush

We headed down to Waterfront Station, we were still in pretty good spirits considering our team had just lost. We started yelling “we got second” and even pass people on a balcony popping champagne to celebrate a good run. The mood where we were was not happy but more “we’ll get ‘em next year.” It wasn’t until we decided to get food that I checked my phone and was informed of the riots taking place where we just left. We were blocks away and had NO idea. I was told to get out of the city by my mom who was watching on TV because they were moving the crowds right where we were trying to get them to disperse.

We caught one of the very last buses out of the city that night. Normally the bus goes down Granville Street, across the bridge, and to Granville Island…except when Granville Street is closed then it uses Howe Street. Well we were re-routed again: down one more street, and when we passed Georgia Street it was a site I will never forget. Smoke was rising from down the road. That’s when we started to get a little bit scared…none of what was happening seemed real to any of us. The bus driver turned to us and told us that he was going to have to re-route some more…taking us the long way to get to Granville Island. The response from all of us was “just get us over the bridge” and he did. We got off the bus, wished him a safe night, and got to my uncles house just in time to see the police cars get lit on fire live on national television.

The war zone that was Vancouver.  Photo by kaishin

We sat there in shock…we were kinda lucky to get out when we did. We walked to the store a bit later, and the city looked like a war zone. We could see the police helicopters in the air, smelled the smoke from the burning cars, heared the people still screaming and the sweet smell of the dissipated tear gas. All the way across False Creek. I was glued to the television.  We didn’t know how long this was going to go on for, and we all just wanted to go home in the morning.  Having to catch the bus outside the Hudson’s Bay Company, we didn’t know if that was possible. As it turns out, the buses there were back on.

The television turned on bright in the morning, reported that the buses were running again so we left the house at 6 am.  When we got to Downtown, we were in shock.

It’s one thing to see on the news all the destruction, it’s another thing to walk down the street with windows busted everywhere. The rest of the trip we got asked if we were down there since we were all still in our Canucks gear. Re-telling the story was like a dream — something that didn’t happen to us. It was all anyone could talk about, and we seemed to be drawing people to us since we had been there. 

Photo by Charles de Jesus

It still does not seem real to me, although the pain in the ankle tells me different. I really do want to extend a HUGE thank you to the VPD for how they handled it. I have heard people say that they should have tried things to clear people out before it ended, like turning on the fire hoses or blasting the tear gas before the first car got flipped. But I shake my head at that.

We would have been caught in that.

The VPD did amazing in my opinion.

To all those who cleaned up the next day…thank you!

To all those people who stood up against the rioters that night…thank you!

To all the people out there with strong hearts who wont let this ruin our city…thank you. 

A small number of stupid people took something away from all of us that night. We, the proud many, need to take it back.  

— from the Island, and a very proud British Columbian.