Letters from the Front Lines: Vancouver Riot

The fort we built to protect ourselves: it was like a zombie apocalypse

Riot police send in the K-9 officers on Granville Street in an effort to contain the troublemakers. Photo by Maurice Li.

Sorry for any grammer/spelling mistakes…this was hard enough.

So at 2 pm, my friend and I took the Millennium Line to Granville Station to help out our friend who was doing security, just in case the Canucks lose the game.  By the time the game starts, the tension is already mounting and groups of goons are camping out in spots drinking…there’s not a jersey or flag to be seen on their bodies.

By the time second period ends, people are leaving in droves..but large packs of drunk idiots are rolling in.

Then it happens.  The Canucks lose.

Now Granville , between Smithe and Robson, is packed. People are climbing street poles, ripping down signs, and amazingly managing to break ash trees, not an easy task. There is a guy with a radio and video camera on the roof of the theatre across the street, so the police are walking in, zeroing in on the goons doing the damage, pulling them out.

Then it starts. Fights begin, and the window of John Fluflogs get smashed, and unknown objects are lit on fire. 

My friend and I arm up with batons in our pockets, we take a stance…and wait. Shit is hitting the fan all around us, police have disappeared. People are commenting on how we are the kind of security they don’t want to fuck with. All i can think is..good, just move on…

One group of east Indians start calling us Nazi skin heads..one come right up to me, all confrontational.. “you’re a skin head?”… “no dude, I’m fucking bald”…fucking racist prick…he looks at me all deflated and said, “oh..ok..go canucks”.

Then it’s a whirlwind of mayhem, still no police, but it weirdly seems since we have been a presence all afternoon, people are giving us a bit of space..and moving on. even the cracked out meat monkey with the wire wraped pole, disguised as a flag..he looks like he wants to fight us, eyeballs us..but just keeps turning away and moving on. We are now standing there, defensive stance, no longer in a passive stance, one hand behind the back, holding the baton, other forward, ready to disable kneecaps.

Still, they move on, some even come close, asking stupid questions “are you gonna take us out if we trash the store?”

“Yes” i say flatly”…move on”. They do.

A crying woman is trying to find the Cellar, she needs to find her daughter. We tell her where to go. She wants to know wich way is the safest out of town..many ask the same question. My best answer is go to the sea wall, keep walking. There is no transit or vehicles leaving this mess.

Now all this is an adrenaline mixed mess for me, people are ducking behind us for cover. They are crying, trying to get ahold of others on the phone — we tell them they can hide here until they find who they are looking for, they are confussed and scared. One drunk/stoned/stupid girl is hiding behind us, but trying to start fights. I am severly tempted to knock her out for her safety, and more importantly…ours.

Lucky for us, tear gas seems to be on the way to get rid of her, and it does, she bolts, never to be seen again. I hand out medical masks, and pull out my gas mask…yes, I am prepared for the zombie apocalypse..

Then the shit really hits the fan…fires, fights bottles. Every time i get a chance I am grabbing stuff and drag it in trees….large pilons, part of a barrier, bottles..oh yeah, and the chair used to smash the window.

The same chair some punk street ninja is using to try to smash the Adidas store next to us. I snap, run forward, “HEY” I yell, he comes at me with the chair, I take a stance, reach back for the baton..he tosses it and runs back, starts to taugnt at me grabbing his nuts..ohh, threatining..by grabbing your balls?

I grab the chair, go back to our spot, he keeps taunting me, I smile hold up my hand to me ear…”:what?..i cant heaar you?”…he keeps walking, then is confronted by others displeased at him. He runs. I give them the nod, they give thumbs up…I still get some boos.

One woman is chasing a guy down the street, I think he stole her purse..he gets to Smithe Street…WAM! he is flattened under 4 riot sheilds.

MORE tear gas, I’m helping wash out peoples eyes. My friends and I realize…we aren’t going anywhere if we want to. We are totally immersed in the shit. The riot police are at each end of the block, spread thin, I think they didnt expect the riot to start by the post office, at least not to the magnitude it did.

More chaos, we take in a few more firends of friends, then BANG, right in front of us, a tear gas canister. I try to get my mask back on, end up scooping gas into it, face burning, we all charge into the store, and start hacking, rinsing our faces. After about 5 minutes, which feels like forever when your face is on fire, we get back outside, back to defence. People are now crying, scared, angry and crazed. The riot police are now forcing people back and forth up Granville and back, tear gas, flash bangs and mayhem.

We are ALL vibrating with adreniline now…people are calling and texting me to get out of there, another friend especially god bless him. But we can’t, we are trapped..and if anyone is going to trash the store…it’s now.

Our friends make a break for it, they get out. Its all a little hazzy here..untill we see the riot squad rushing down from Robson Street. They see us, we yell we are just gaurding the store. the tell us get inside, lock the door. So we do.

Photo by Maurice Li

Looking out the window…it rains teargas canisters and flash bangs. A few minutes later, we go check, the street is almost empty. They have now regrouped for the big push up Smithe and Robson, at least 100 strong at both ends. I see them doing the rythmic banging of the shields, marching away…and somehow in the madness, spout out..” wait…..here we come just a walking down the street, singing do-wop-ditty-ditty-dum-ditty do”.

Finally we laugh…it seems to be mostly over, we can emerge. We get permission to walk out from the police…the riot is now crushed into the front of Chapters. We are going to Al Catilina’s…but in the shellshock, go the wrong way….which allows us to see the total carnage…and almost get hit with ceiling tiles thrown from cowards hiding on a roof. They explode onto a parked police car. Apparently there are still random pockets of stupid. Hey dumb ass, now they know you are on the roof, they just have to wait for you to come down.

When we turn back to go the RIGHT way to Al’s…Granville is in total lock down…crime scene.

Smashed store fronts every block of Granville, except ours. Burned over turned police cars on Nelson Street, bonfires under trolley line power loops, behind Al’s. I call to get the buzzer number and buzz…to get him to open the smashed door i walk over…wow, i am really out of it.

We walk in, Kaine hands me a smoke and a shot of tequila…yep, im off the wagon for this one. 3 shots in a row…I don’t even flinch, tear gas kinda makes it more palitable to drink shots.

We all talk about what we have seen, the Gang is understanding and lets me ramble and decompress..t.his is the most intense situation i have been in. I’m asked..were you scared? Only the stupid man is fearless in that kind of situation (standing on a burning car getting your picture taken proves THAT!).

Would i do this again?

Yes.

Do I appreciate the fact I wasnt alone ?

One of them is now my brother, I would have him at my back anyday. 

The other guy is now also my brother, I would have him at my back anyday. 

Do i think this is the most disgusting show of insanity and mob mentality? Without a doubt.

Do i think the police did their job? Yes, they were more scared than us, heavily outnumbered, with no uniforms on us to tell who was a good guy and who was insane.

Do I think I could survive a zombie apocalypes? I think i just did, because I’m having a hard time telling the differance between brain dead monsters causing havoc,..and brain dead monsters causing havoc.

The day after…

I just got back from going downtown to the store. Some of the store owners didnt even know that anything happened . It was erie and unnerving to stand on the side walk, and not be in the entrance. I was proud to see all the volunteers cleaning the streets and walls, the signs the city posted thanking them.

We got hugs from the girls who work the store, and thank yous and handshakes from customers who came to see if it was intact. They called us heroes.

I just wanted to find a police officer…and say thank you.

I will some how…maybe send this to them.

I want to thank all my friends who were concerned and trying to make sure I was all right.

This event has changed my perspective on many great things, and has proved to me that there is still good in people, there are friends who care, and responibilities to them, that I will always stand for when it is the right thing to do.

— a proud Vancouverite who defended his city on that night.