Riot: What actually happened, causes, mistakes and solutions

For the second time in a period of 12 months, a Canadian city was beset by mob violence and looting. The first occurrence took place in Toronto during the G20 Summit in June of 2010. I will be writing about that incident and the accompanying police fiasco that occurred at the same time at a later date.

As soon as the game ended and violence outside began, police fired tear gas, pepper spray and flash bombs, trying to disperse angry rioters who set cars on fire, looted stores and taunted police officers.

As Vancouverites awoke on June 16th 2011 to ruined shops and burned cars, there was one really good piece of news. This civil disorder took place in the downtown section of the city in the aftermath of the previous night’s Stanley Cup loss by the Vancouver Canucks to the Boston Bruins and not in the residential areas of that beautiful city.

Because the Rogers Stadium (also called the Rogers Arena) isn’t large enough to hold more than 18,860 seats, the city leaders decided to place giant outdoor TV screens on a six-lane stretch of Georgia Street between Hamilton Street and Edwards Street. As many as 100,000 people congregated in that downtown section of the city to watch the game on the large TV screens that had been set up in that area. The police had closed the adjacent streets to handle the overflow.

The game ended at 8:20 in the evening. Of course, all of the Vancouverites were disappointed that the Vancouver team had lost 4-0 to the Boston Bruins however the spectators at the stadium exited in an orderly fashion and most headed to their homes.

What actually happened on the streets:

The same cannot be said for many of the unhappy fans in the large crowd that had been watching the game on the outdoor screens. Within minutes, hooligans (which are best described as scum or garbage) began roaming the nearby streets, overturning cars and setting them on fire. Fifteen vehicles had been set on fire, including two police cars. A hundred riot police began pushing the people away from the burning cars as acrid smoke filled the area.

The hooligans then headed towards the Bank of Montreal, smashing its big windows. The crowd of hooligans and onlookers were ordered by the police to leave the area. By 9:00, they still hadn’t dispersed so the police said over the loudspeakers that if they didn’t leave, they would use force.

The crowd headed towards the intersection of Georgia Street and Granville Street (it is the street that bisects the city from east to west and runs the entire length of the city from north and south) At the north-east corner is the large Hudson’s Bay department store (now called the Bay where I worked in 1956 while drawing up the four sets of plans of the building into one set of plans.)

One brave citizen tried to force the looters from entering the building through the broken windows. They fell on him like the animals they were and began beating him. When he fell to the ground, he was rescued by several decent citizens who helped him as he walked away from the thugs.

After smashing the windows of the Bay, the looters stormed into the building. Women looters headed towards the main floor makeup counters and grabbed everything they could carry including expensive purses. Others tossed merchandize into the street.
Windows were smashed along busy Granville Street and looters streamed into other department stores to emerge with high-end fashion accessories, clothing and make-up.

The looters also headed towards the Sears department store at the intersection of Seymore Street and Granville Street. When they got there, they smashed that firm’s storefront windows. They then headed towards Future Shop but by the time the looters got to the second floor of the store, they were greeted by off-duty police officers who had been retained by the store to protect the store.

The CEO of London Drugs, Wynne Powell, estimated the repairs at his one store alone would be around $1 million. He said, "At this time it is difficult to put an exact dollar amount on the damage and theft the store has suffered but it will be significant. The first floor of the store was hit hard which included food, house wares and cosmetics products. There was also significant theft on the second floor of the store which includes a vast amount of cameras, computer and electronic technology products."

The chaos that swept downtown Vancouver after the Canucks' Stanley Cup loss was the work of criminals and anarchists who had come prepared for trouble, the city's police chief said the following day. He said that many police officers saw many of the rioters equipped with goggles, gasoline and other tools to create damage. He added that the anarchists and criminals who appeared to be the same kind of people involved in the pre-Olympic demonstrations. Chu also told reporters, “Those criminals and anarchists hide behind the large numbers of people who wanted to watch the game. When there's a large number of criminals and anarchists that have a common purpose and intend to break the law, it's very difficult to stop that.” I am going to deal with that aspect of his opinion later in this article.

The mayhem caused millions of dollars in damage and looting to downtown businesses, at least 150 injuries, including nine police officers, and left a black eye on a city that became an international star when it hosted the Winter Olympics last year. Further, two men suffered serious knife injuries near the Art Gallery. The police arrested two suspects standing near the injured men who were lying on the ground.

More than 100 people were arrested, most for breach of the peace and public intoxication. Of eight people arrested for offences including break and enter, theft, mischief and assault, two were charged and held in custody, four were released on their own cognizance with future court dates and two were released after there wasn't enough evidence to proceed against them.

Here are some of the names of hoodlums who bragged about their exploits as rioters.

A young man called Jason Giovanni sent a message to a friend, “Hope we go to the finals next year just so we can smash windows and burn cars again. Eleven bros got arrested, one stabbed, one gang beat down (one) of these fags, got pepper sprayed and tear gassed and almost arrested twice. Best night of my life.”

Ni Malenovic sent a message also to a friend. “Fucking rioted so hard. Fucking best time of my life.”

Johnathan Mason sent the following message to a friend. “Yay. # riot!!! I personally flipped over 3 cop cars and bit two police already. Are (am) going to burn down some tall buildings. RIOT RIOT RIOT”

Zarif Mahmood “I broke into an Audi and stole some Whiskey” When told that a Bruin fan had been kicked, Mahmood replied, “He deserved it.”

Daniel Crossley sent the following message. “Yo. I was crazy rioting. I got bashed by a fuckin riot control faggot.”

Bruce Anton sent this message to a friend. “Maced in the face. Hit with a batton, tear gassed twice, six broken fingers, blood everywhere, punched a fucking pig in head with riot gear on, knocked him to the ground, threw the jersey (sweater) on the burning cop car, flipped some cars, burned some smart cars, burned some cop cars. I am on the news.”

Would any mature parent want any of these assholes going out with their daughters? I think not.

Causes

Most sports fans are young men, and some of them are full of empty machismo or inchoate rage or the desire to add meaning to lives that they deem insufficiently meaningful. This is true everywhere.

But in some places that machismo and rage and nihilism can find fuller throat, for whatever reason. Edmonton and Calgary's hooliganism was limited to non-existent in 2006 and 2004, when they lost Game 7 of the Stanley Cup; Montreal has made the reflexive burning of police cars a sort of tradition, win or lose.

Much of the crowd was there to engage in peaceful public acts, either to register protests (in Toronto) or watch a hockey game (in Vancouver) however, the abysmal events that took place in the streets of Vancouver underline several unfortunate realities. The riot was not about alcohol, or youth or violence in hockey. That particular night’s mayhem was the work of criminals, period. Their actions were deliberate and premeditated. In this manner, the violence in Vancouver was comparable to the outbreak of general lawlessness during last June’s G20 summit in Toronto. People turned up at both events hoping and planning for an opportunity to riot, smash windows, set cars on fire and create havoc.

There were rioters already their to cause trouble win or lose, but every gathering after Canucks games up until Game 7 was a peaceful affair, with tens of thousands streaming through downtown. This time, some of those same people propelled or followed the herd, looking for infamy and adrenaline and meaning. They wanted to smash something. They did. Only they really know why.

These rioters do not represent the majority of Canucks fans, or Vancouverites, many of whom responded by cleaning up their downtown Thursday, and reporting the thugs. But the vandals are a part of that group and that place. They are a part of the mosaic. It's a terribly beautiful city, but a part of it, when it reveals itself, makes you sick.

Some riots aren’t necessarily caused by hooligans bent on creating havoc. Nassau County police offered more insights on what caused a restless Black Friday crowd of shoppers to trample Wal-Mart worker Jdimyati Damour to death as he opened the door to the store. Newsday had an explanation from Nassau Police Lt. Kevin Smith:

“Apparently people waiting and standing outside the store came into conflict with people waiting in their cars who wanted to cut the line once the store opened. A whole lot of people started getting out of their cars and made a beeline for that door. It's definitely a contributing factor. It was the mentality of They're not going to cut in front of me.”

The way that people respond to various situations or stimuli can be classified as types of behavior. Types that are of special interest and often studied include emotional behavior, where a person reacts emotionally to a situation; bad behavior, where individuals break social rules, such as being rude or not minding the feelings of others; (as in the Black Friday incident) uncontrolled behavior, where an individual cannot control his or her behavior; and group behavior or how a group of beings act in various situations.

There are situations where a person or animal may respond in a manner that is anti-social or breaking certain rules or laws. Examples of bad or anti-social behavior include:

• A person may act rude and break common social rules by skipping in line, or he may even break laws by stealing or harming others.
• A child may not mind his or her parents, as well as to talk back to them.
• A trained animal may not mind its master and obey commands.
• An animal in the wild may not follow the rules of cooperation in its society; although this situation seems to be rare.

The reasons for such behavior is often that what is wanted is a greater reward than possible consequences of breaking the rules, laws or commands.

There are situations where a group of people act as an entity itself or may result in anti-social or uncontrolled behavior by the individuals in the group. Sometimes this is called the ‘mob mentality’. The rules for behavior in groups can often lead to surprising results. Participants in a group during a protest demonstration are often taken up with the emotions of the group that they may do violent acts later that they normally would not think of doing initially.

Possible rules are:

• If in a group, you tend to mirror the emotions of the people near you.
• The leaders of the group can incite emotions in the group.
One reason for group behavior is that people are influenced by those around them, such that the group becomes almost like an organism in itself. This can be seen when you watch a flock of birds changing direction when they are flying.

Looting

Looting is more than just stealing. It is used interchangeably with plundering and pillaging and refers to the stealing of goods during or after a war, natural disaster or other violent and unforeseen catastrophes and incidents.

Whenever a natural disaster occurs, there is also an increase in the frequency of looting. It may be because a natural disaster throws everything into chaos, with a visible lack of order. With no law enforcement around, the chances of being caught and prosecuted for stealing during this time is highly unlikely. Looting in cases of natural disasters is also characterized by groups of people engaging in the same activity. This mob mentality makes it easy for them to assume that since everyone else is doing it, it makes it okay to do it yourself too.

An example of this is what happened after the earthquake in Haiti. It has shown us that in more extreme cases, looting may be critical for the survival of the individual and his or her family, especially if food and medicine are the items that are taken as was often seen after the Haiti earthquake.

Many people will say "Oh, that's ridiculous, this kind of mob violence couldn't happen in our country because people are polite and mild-mannered. But I think that sort of statement misunderstand human nature and the capacity of populations to shift from peaceful, polite populations to out-of-control mobs. The "mob mentality" changes peoples' behavior. People will do things as part of an anonymous mob that they'd never even consider doing on their own.

Let’s face it. Many honest citizens when given an opportunity to steal from a person or a store or to harm someone else for their own personal gain without the risk of getting caught, will pursue that line of action if they honestly believe that they will never get caught? I believe that in riots, looters honestly believe that they will never get caught even though they are aware that photos of them are taken by people with cameras of cell phones that can be used for taking photos.

The bottom line is that the impulse to steal from others for one’s own personal gain is, sadly, hardwired into human behavior. If you think back to our ancestors centuries ago, it was to their advantage to steal food and resources from others, because if they could steal food then they wouldn't have to expend the calorie investment required to get their own food. Stealing and exploiting others is, technically, a survival strategy. As such, it's part of human nature today.

Unfortunately, the bottom line is that human nature really is hardwired in a way that motivates many individuals to primarily think about themselves first rather than the good of the community. The way that plays out in large cities when there's a lack of law enforcement capacity is that people go on rampages, they commit crimes, hijackings, rapes, burglaries and so on. And part of the evidence supporting this argument is the very fact that some people are so motivated to exploit others for their own personal gain that they will engage in these types of illegal activities even when law enforcement is operating at a high level and the threat of arrest is imminent. Some people will risk jail in order to steal a TV or a VCR from someone's home.

Many years ago, an acquaintance of mine who needed a place to sleep for the night, stole my television set while I was at work. I had that person arrested and charged with the theft of my TV resulting in that acquaintance being sentenced to eighteen months in prison. Some people will risk a 10-year jail sentence to steal a vehicle. Some people are so violent that they will risk physical harm and imprisonment in order to rape or murder or physically harm another human being.

Under the right circumstances, almost everyone is capable of certain acts considered criminal. When you change the risk vs. opportunity equation, you initiate criminal behavior from people who were otherwise law-abiding citizens. This is especially true for property crimes.

If you don't believe this, ask yourself how many people you think might return the cash found in a lost wallet. Taking that cash is a crime because the cash obviously belongs to the owner of the wallet. Yet it's a crime with near-zero risk, because the finder can always say there was no cash in the wallet when they found it (or they can just take the cash and throw the wallet in the trash). What percentage of people do you think will steal the cash?

In 1952 when I was returning home from Nova Scotia where I had undergone training at the naval base in Cornwallis for five months, I stopped off at the City of Lethbridge for an overnight visit. Soon after, I discovered that I had lost my wallet which contained my ID, my money, my train tickets etc. I contacted the police who in turn contacted the local radio station who made announcements once an hour about my plight. They said to its listeners that if anyone found my wallet, they could drop in the nearest letter box and the police would finally get it and it would be returned to me. The next morning I got a call from the police while I was staying at the YMCA that had put me up for the night for free. My wallet had been found and dropped into a letter box. Everything that was originally in the wallet was still in the wallet when it was returned to me. Such a person would never commit the crimes of arson or looting.

Fortunately, there are some people who would return the wallet and the cash. Those are people who operate from an internal code of ethics and honesty. These people don't need law enforcement. They know the difference between right and wrong, and they don't need a stack of law books to explain it to them.

But the mistake that we tend to make is thinking that everyone else is like them. Let’s face it; they aren't. There are people who would kill you for $10 without a second thought. They don't operate with any internal code of ethics, and they only respond to one thing: the threat of violence (being shot by a police officer) or imprisonment (arrest and jail time).

Citizens taking the law into their own hands

In some instances, the same extreme circumstances may apply when meting out justice to looters during times of natural calamities. There may not be any time and resources to go through a fair but lengthy trial and in some countries, looters could get shot in the process of carrying out their crime. After the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, a group of six looters were lined up and shot to death by some enraged citizens.

It is the same chaos and disorder that works against them, since private citizens may not be able to wait for law enforcement officials to arrive and could just take matters into their own hands. Many store owners in the United States ward off looters with shotguns or other guns in their hands. That can’t happen in Canada because most store owners wouldn’t be permitted to have a gun on the premises. Sometimes, shots may be fired by officials, not so much to cause any harm or injury to anyone, but simply as a call for the crowd to disperse and for massive looting to cease. When the numbers increase, the looting could escalate into a riot and more people could get hurt as it happens.

The role of the police during this riot:

Chief Jim Chu insisted his police force planned for the worst-case scenario, and when that scenario became a reality, officers in riot gear and on horseback responded. He credited the force for bringing the riot under control in three hours.

But faced with a crowd of tens of thousands packed into the downtown core, Chu said, "Hundreds of officers tasked with controlling the crowds were quickly overwhelmed and unable to wade into the fray."

Police were inviting the public to submit photos and videos of the mayhem to help them round up more.

The riot appeared to begin in a city-organized celebration site overflowing with fans watching the game on giant outdoor TV screens, as they had throughout the Stanley Cup series. In the dying minutes of the third period, with the Canucks down 4-0, some in the crowd tipped over a car and set it on

At the peak of chaos, police officers were noticeably absent. Blocks away, officers in riot gear slowly marched from intersection to intersection, firing canisters of choking tear gas along the way.

Chu said those officers were acting according to plan, focusing on securing the downtown bit by bit, and then holding the ground they gained.

He said, “The objective is to deploy in groups in a strategic manner. If the officers went to every hot spot, the riot would have continued for much longer than it did,” said Chu, adding that officers were deployed throughout the Vancouver area until the riot began, when they were sent downtown.

The chief said, “In hindsight, if we knew what would happen, we would have had more police officers deployed there, but we didn't know that. We have to look at the whole region in terms of any problems breaking out.”

Vancouver police officials pointed the finger at a band of troublemakers who came downtown prepared for violence. Hockey fans, police have said, may have been watching, even egging the rioters on, but they weren't the main source of the problem.

“These were people who came equipped with masks, goggles and gasoline, even fire extinguishers that they would use as weapons,” Chu said, while acknowledging others joined in.

“What we do see in some situations is the hard-core people that have the premeditated intent to commit those criminal acts, and we have people on the fringes, 'Hey, if a big riot breaks out, we'll join in,' so we do have that.”

Riots followed the Canucks' 1994 Stanley Cup loss as well, but last year's Winter Olympics went off nearly without a hitch.

The '94 riots caused $1 million in damage, leaving 200 people injured and leading to charges against more than 150 people. Chu said there were about three times as many rioters out that night than in 1994, but he said lessons learned in the past 17 years saw police bring the riot under control in half the time.

During last year's Winter Games, there were relatively few problems in the street parties that overtook downtown Vancouver, with the exception of an anti-Olympic protest that turned ugly when an anarchist group called the Black Bloc smashed windows and splashed paint on storefronts. Their efforts to ignite the crowd fizzled after a few blocks and a few smashed windows.

“We recognize some of those same criminals (involved in Wednesday's riots) as those who took part in the vandalism during the Winter Olympics,” said Chu.

Vancouver had mostly returned to normal by the following afternoon, but there remained evidence of the chaos the night before.

There were 101 arrests reported, with 85 charged with breach of the peace, eight charged with public intoxication and eight charged with Criminal Code offences including theft, mischief, assault with a weapon and breaking and entering.

City officials say a total of 29 businesses were damaged, about 15 vehicles were overturned or burned, portable toilets were toppled and trash cans were torched.

Worst hit were Hudson's Bay, London Drugs, Bank of Montreal and a car rental agency on West Georgia Street, and the Sears, Future Shop and Chapters stores on Robson Street.

Crews worked hard to sweep up, replace the glass and board the windows as office workers arriving for work looked on in disbelief and confusion, and snapped photos of the mess.

Several vehicles were also burned by rioters overnight, but those had been removed by morning, leaving large black marks on the pavement. Evidence of smaller trash can fires also remained on sidewalks.

Injuries

Hospital officials reported four people remained in hospital with serious injuries, including two stabbing victims, a person who was injured in a fall and a person who had a reduced level of consciousness.

About 140 people were treated at St. Paul's and Vancouver General hospitals for less serious injuries, including the effects of tear gas or pepper spray, cuts, face and head injuries and substance misuse before being released.

Bad publicity for Vancouver

Video and photos of burning cars, broken windows and looted stores were posted on websites around the world as the mayhem slowly subsided, including virtual mug shots of individual rioters.

The destruction, which led to police reading the riot act, was worse than the June 1994 Stanley Cup riot in downtown Vancouver after the Canucks lost in the seventh game of the final in New York against the Rangers. Conviction of rioting after the Riot Act has been pronounced can result in imprisonment for life although I know of no one ever being sent to prison for life for rioting

Media outlets such as the New York Times and CNN played reports about the chaos prominently on their websites.

"Trouble in Vancouver's Streets after defeat" topped the lead story in the online sports section of the Times, while the CNN site gave prominent play to fiery video images from downtown.

The Washington Post headline, "Riots erupt in Vancouver after Canucks lose to Bruins," was accompanied by a photo of a fan waving a Canadian flag with a burning pickup truck in the background.

The riot also drew notice in Australia, where the front page of the sports section of the Brisbane Times website displayed photos of the riot under the headline: "Hockey fans hopping mad."

The Sydney Morning Herald also displayed riot photos and the headline: "Violence in Vancouver after Canucks lose Stanley Cup final."

Was it right to encourage people to watch the game while viewing it on the street?

Perhaps it would have been better if they watched the game in the centre of a public park.

Police declared the downtown fan zone area near the CBC building and the central post office a riot zone. Anyone not leaving the West Georgia Street area immediately could be arrested, they warned.

They used batons and also turned police dogs on the rioters, slowly pushing the crowd back along Georgia Street from Hamilton Street to Cambie Street.

Two police cars were set on fire in a parking lot on Cambie Street near one of the areas where police were being confronted by a few dozen people among the hundreds present who were throwing debris at officers.

Surely, none of them were hockey fans. Not the guy in the vintage Trevor Linden jersey posing next to the burning truck in front of the Post Office; not the guys in the Pavel Bure or Alex Burrows or Roberto Luongo jerseys who rampaged through Vancouver's downtown core, smashing windows and looting and setting cars on fire. Surely they were all just dead-enders, anarchists, professional felons. Makes sense.
Vancouver Chief of Police Jim Chu told reporters the day after the riot that the riot marred the end of Vancouver's chase for the Stanley Cup, that the rioters were "young men and women disguised as Canucks fans who were actually criminals and anarchists. These were people who came equipped with masks, goggles and gasoline, even fire extinguishers that they would use as weapons."

You can blame the outdoor viewing areas that pulled 100,000 people downtown like a magnet, but those didn't exist in 1994, and there was a riot. You can blame some sort of vague alienation regarding the soaring real estate prices in the city, which have deprived an entire generation of the opportunity to own property, but houses were relatively cheap in '94, and there was a riot.

You can blame the Canucks for whatever sins of comportment they have committed -owner Francisco Aquilini reportedly cursed repeatedly at several members of the media after the game -but in 1994 the Canucks were a lovable underdog, a happy tugboat of a team, and there was a riot. You could blame the same stupid slice of the greater community, except the rioters of 1994 are middle-aged now, and the vast majority of the faces that made the news were young. This was another generation. And there was a riot. Again.

As Vancouverites cleaned up in the aftermath and spontaneously wrote messages of apology and inspiration on plywood covering broken windows, city officials were asking themselves whether they did enough to prevent the widespread damage and looting.

Robertson, Premier Christy Clark and Police Chief Jim Chu all defended the decision to encourage as many as 100,000 people to come into downtown Vancouver to watch the games on huge screens at designated fan zones.

They applauded police efforts to quell the riot, but Robertson conceded the city and the province will have to review the actions of police and city officials to determine what went wrong to make sure similar riots won’t happen again. And he said the lack of forewarning about “anarchists and thugs” planning to bring hammers and Molotov cocktails to a public party may mean police will have to adopt new methods of intelligence-gathering.

“We’re going to have to make changes,” he said as he toured the damage. “Based on what happened last night, we’re going to have to understand how this was enabled to happen.”

At least three people were seriously injured, including two who were stabbed and one man who is in critical condition after falling from the Dunsmuir Viaduct.

There are no estimates of damages to property yet, but it is expected to be in the millions of dollars.

In a briefing with reporters, Chu defended his officers and said they tried first to calm the crowds with their friendly “meet and greet” policy. But he admitted he may have underestimated the potential for problems downtown, which quickly emerged as his officers were spread out across the city.

“When a crowd is this large, it is difficult to go and pick off the instigators and troublemakers,” he said. “That is what we encountered that night. The crowd was very, very large. At the live sites there was a plan to create corridors for people to get through but they were quickly taken over. Those criminals and anarchists hide behind the large number of people. They were looking for that opportunity.”
Chu said that when the riot broke out, officers at the live sites retreated and were redeployed in protective equipment. Officers elsewhere were reassigned to the downtown.

“In hindsight, had we known what would happen, we probably would have had more police officers deployed there. But we didn’t know that,” Chu said, Officers tried early in the day to get an upper hand on the flow of alcohol into the fan zones. They poured out any booze they could find, searched bags and made sure liquor stores were shut early. But reporters in the fan zones reported seeing people bringing in large amounts of alcohol when police weren’t around. As thousands of people streamed into the fan zones, the perimeters collapsed.

“The live sites quickly became non-existent,” said Assistant Fire Chief Wade Pierlot. His fire prevention officers didn’t have the power to stop the influx.
Firefighters found themselves being pelted and spit on, something they aren’t used to, he said. By the end of the night, they had responded to more than 387 incidents, many involving small fires.

As citizen volunteers picked up shovels and garbage bags and gathered in their hundreds in downtown Vancouver to start cleaning up the rubble left by the massive riot following the Canucks' Game 7 Stanley Cup final loss Wednesday night, Vancouver's police chief deflected criticism and blamed "anarchists and criminals" for the orgy of destruction and looting.

Chief Jim Chu said he was pleased with the way officers dealt with the situation — the mayhem was stopped within three hours, he said, about half the time it took to deal with the 1994 Vancouver Stanley Cup riot, despite the bigger crowd the night of the riot.

He said many off-duty officers came in after seeing the violence on television, and nine suffered injuries from thrown objects and being bitten. Chu said almost 100 people were arrested, and he expects more arrests as members of the public provide tips, video and photos of what happened.

The chief referred to those who took part in the riots as "young men and women disguised as Canucks fans who were actually criminals and anarchists. These were people who came equipped with masks, goggles and gasoline, even fire extinguishers that they would use as weapons."

Chu said many had also been arrested in violent protests at last year's Winter Olympics. He said his office and other agencies will now conduct "several" investigations into what happened in order to prevent a repeat.

"In hindsight, had we known what would happen, we probably would have had more police officers deployed there. But we didn't know that," Chu said.

The B.C. Crown is looking at establishing a team of prosecutors to deal with charges arising from Wednesday's riot.

Most of the nearly 100 people arrested by police during the riot following Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final have been released pending investigation. Vancouver police say 85 people taken into custody for breach of peace were released along with eight arrested for intoxication.

There were eight arrests for such charges as theft, mischief, assault with a weapon and break and enter. Two people were charged in connection with a stabbing, said police.

Four people were released with a future court date and two cases did not have enough evidence to proceed.

The city woke up the next day to smashed storefronts, broken bottles and garbage-strewn streets as cleanup crews continued working to clear the rubble.

A trail of bloody footprints outside a coffee shop marked the pavement next to heaps of broken glass, while overturned perfume counters and mannequin limbs lay on the first floors of Sears and the Bay.

The comments of others:

Roving bands of anarchists and troublemakers bent on havoc set fires, broke windows and whipped up booze-fueled mobs to create the worst riot in Vancouver’s history, Mayor Gregor Robertson said the day after the game.

The mayor said there was no advance warning of the strategy, which caught police and city officials off guard, and may force them to take a different approach to security plans for large public gatherings in the future.

“There had been absolutely no signs of this coming,” Robertson said Thursday afternoon. “Both during the G-20 [leaders’ summit in Toronto] and the 2010 Olympics these thugs were well known to be organizing and preparing to take action and criminal activities on the streets. There were no indications of that leading into last night,” he said.

“Definitely there are citizens responsible for inflaming the situation. But there were purposeful vandals who instigated this and very cleverly whipped many others into a frenzy by attacking cars and storefronts and moving throughout the downtown to create more hot spots.”

The mayor was commenting on how a public celebration of the final match of the Vancouver Canucks and Boston Bruins in the Stanley Cup Final descended into a night of rampage. It left more than 150 people injured, more than 50 businesses damaged, 15 cars destroyed and at least 14 officers nursing cuts, bites and in one case, a concussion.

"It's devastating. It's disgusting," said Mekaela Brion, whose apartment became a haven for 16 of her friends who were trapped downtown Wednesday night. "It's on Facebook and YouTube all over the world. People think this is Vancouver, but it's not. It's just a small group of idiots."

Plywood covered the windows of many stores in downtown Vancouver, and police tape lined sidewalks.

B.C. Premier Christy Clark vowed that authorities would track down everyone who took part in the riot, and called on everyone who recorded the events of of the riot to turn over evidence to police.

"If you are responsible, we will hold you responsible. Your family, friends and employers will know," Clark said in a statement released the day after the riot. "You will not be able to hide behind your hoodie or your bandana. The vast majority of citizens gathered and dispersed peacefully, but sadly they also witnessed the mayhem. There were also Good Samaritans there: people who had the guts to stand up for what is right and citizens who showed up the morning after to help with the cleanup.These people deserve our thanks. They are the ones who will define our city and our province."

Cameron Brown, 26, was one of those Good Samaritans.The Vancouver-based sports photographer was left with three stitches above one eye, scrapes on his right knee and hand, and a swollen lip after he tried to put out a fire rioters had lit in a trash can.

"I got a couple jeers, pushes and shoves, but not too much," he said. "And then all of a sudden, next thing I knew, I was on the ground."

The Canucks organization issued a statement condemning the violence.

"The destructive actions and needless violence demonstrated by a minority of people last night in Vancouver is highly disappointing to us all," read the statement.
"As an organization, we would like to thank the law enforcement agencies, fire and rescue workers who displayed courage and expertise during a very difficult situation. We are proud of the city we live and play in, and know that the actions of these misguided individuals are not reflective of the citizens of Vancouver or of any true fans of the Canucks or the game of hockey."

"What we saw last night was atrocious behaviour by people who came downtown to commit criminal acts," he said, voicing praise for the efforts of police and emergency crews.

There was one piece of good news to report: Vancouverites weren't taking the trashing of their city in stride. People poured into the downtown core Thursday to clean up the broken glass and debris. Over 14,500 people have signed on to attend the Facebook event Clean Up Vancouver.

"There's been a real outpouring of support from citizens . . . people trying to get our city back," said Robertson. "That kind of spirit is what Vancouver is all about."
"This makes me so angry," said the BC Children's Hospital researcher Aimee Self, wearing a Canucks jersey and rubber gloves, carrying a garbage bag. "I got downtown as quickly as I could."

The 29-year-old was just one of dozens of citizen street cleaners out on the street just after 7 a.m.

"It was heartbreaking," the hockey fan said of the loss. "But this just makes it worse. I want the world to see the city that I believe in, not this," she said, tearing up, as passersby stopped to thank her.

Wynne Powell, president and CEO of London Drugs, which had an outlet closed Thursday after suffering significant damage in the riot, said it's difficult to put a dollar amount on the losses at this time. He said he was thankful his staff escaped unharmed.

"This is a sad moment in the history of Vancouver," Powell said.

In Ottawa, federal politicians were united in their condemnation of the rioters. In the House of Commons, Vancouver-Centre MP Hedy Fry called out the "hooligans" who damaged stores."Justice must be swift and sure," she said.

Another MP, John Weston, said the riot was "out of step with the character" of British Columbia. The West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country MP said pictures and footage of the riot wouldn't undo whatever goodwill was created internationally when Vancouver hosted the Olympics.

"I think everybody knows there was a potential when 100,000 people were in the street for something bad to happen and a few small people spoiled the party for everyone else," he said.

Federal Public Safety Minister Vic Toews would not comment on how the riots were handled, but said he was "quite saddened" at the violence.

"What the incident does demonstrate is the need for a strong police presence even in apparently benign circumstances and benign gatherings," Toews said.

Dazed fans still in Canucks jerseys and face paint walked through the mess as many left their hotels early Thursday morning to head home.

Courtney Colcough, 20, travelled from Port Alberni, B.C., for the final game. The temporary Canucks tattoos on her cheeks were smeared and she said she hadn't got much sleep.

She said, "Police were holding the crowd back, and I guess that was the only way to control them."She said she saw fires break out only minutes after the game ended. She and her friends stayed until the scene got ugly, but then became trapped in the crowd and couldn't get back to their downtown hotel until late at night.

Longtime Vancouver residents voiced their horror at seeing the city in shambles again — bringing back bleak memories of the riots that followed the team's loss in the Stanley Cup final in 1994.

"I can remember the riot 17 years ago, and I think it shows society that there's always a group that causes civil unrest," said Peter Wong, who carried a camera on his way to work to capture what he called an "artistic sadness. Most citizens are good, but there's always this underlying element."

"There was enough police, but they were very late," said restaurant-owner Francesco Caligiuri, who operates Da Gino Ristorante on West Georgia Street.

"We were trying to call them, but they said they couldn't get down. I think the planning and the protocols, they didn't think through." He said that as he came out of the Rogers arena after the game, the crowd started getting more chaotic and dangerous.

"And as we went inside the restaurant, that's when we feared for our lives as rocks and anything heavy that they could get their hands on were thrown at us."

The CBC's Belle Puri reported that families with children watching the game on giant outdoor screens near the Rogers arena seemed to sense the approaching danger as the game neared the end. Some left early.

"You know, I stayed until the score was three-nothing, and I was … right in the middle of the crowd. And it was interesting: at about that point, I heard a lot of people, especially people with families, saying, 'You know, it's time to go; we don't want to be here ….' They were worried."

St. Paul's Hospital was in what's called a Code Orange, "a disaster code which brings to bear all the resources of the hospital," said Dr. Eric Grafstein.
The emergency ward saw 60 patients in two hours Thursday night, compared with an average 16 in that time.

"There were a lot of people who were cut," Grafstein said. "There were some fractures, jaws, facial injuries. I believe we treated two or three people with stab wounds — none of them were life-threatening."

Mistakes made

We owe a great deal to our local law enforcement officers in cities and counties all across this country. They are men and women who are putting their lives on the line to keep our communities safe so that we don’t have to spend our waking hours defending our homes and businesses against hoodlums that are more commonplace in countries less fortunate that our own.

Are there police abuses in this country? Of course there is. In every system of power and control, there is abuse of that power, and law enforcement is no exception. But by and large, local law enforcement provides a tremendous benefit to communities for which they are rarely recognized.

We take it for granted when our streets are safe, but we tend to blame police officials for law enforcement lapses. Sometimes, blame is justified. In both the Toronto fiasco and the one in Vancouver, the police officials bungled.

Despite ample prior warning, and a history of post-hockey violence in Vancouver (I recall a similar reaction by rioters to the Canucks’ failure to win the 1994 Cup), the Vancouver Police Department seemed unprepared for the violence. As reported by National Post reporter Brian Hutchinson, who was present during the riot, mobs ran amok for over an hour in some locations before the first police units even arrived. In Toronto, the looters did their thing because few police officers were standing nearby. They were standing in the immediate area of the G20 Summit where there were no problems.

Many people questioned how long the police took to contain the violence and whether their planning, especially in light of the 1994 experience, was sufficient.

The police claim that dispersing the crowd within three hours met their riot-response objective. But any police plan that lets rioters roam the streets of a major city for three hours is unacceptable. Given the experience of Toronto during the G20, tough questions must be asked about how well prepared our police forces are to maintain public order and protect lives and property. A thorough review of Vancouver’s emergency response plans is warranted.

Other police forces across Canada should learn from Vancouver’s mistakes, as we had hoped Vancouver had learned from Toronto’s. But the lessons go beyond police preparedness. In Vancouver, an estimated 100,000 people gathered downtown around the arena where the game was being played. That volume of people, in so confined an area, seems to have overwhelmed any effort to maintain a peaceful atmosphere, or to restore order with force after the rioting had begun. Police should anticipate reckless actions of criminal agitators, who act without regard for the lives of bystanders or the first responders tasked with ensuring public safety.

Bob Whitelaw, who was hired by the provincial government to examine the 1994 Stanley Cup riot, said the June 16th 2011 riot was worse, and he was critical of the police response.

“One of the major things is that they didn't disperse the people before the sun went down. Two, they didn't take proactive action when those cars were set on fire. Three, there were cars left downtown that were damaged. Four, there was no major exit strategy because they closed off some of the intersections trying to reroute people.”

Whitelaw encouraged investigations like those that followed the 1994 riot, so the police can learn what went wrong and make changes.

Chu faced aggressive questions at a news conference about the amount of time it took for police to get the riot under control. Several reporters said they watched as police stood by as rioters set vehicles on fire and looted stores. But Chu said his officers were following a plan of redeploying into crowd-control equipment and weren't supposed to put either themselves or innocent bystanders into unpredictable situations.

"When a crowd is this large, it is difficult to go and pick off the instigators and troublemakers," Chu said. "That is what we encountered that night. The crowd was very, very large. At the live sites there was a plan to create corridors for people to get through but they were quickly taken over. Those criminals and anarchists hide behind the large number of people. They were looking for that opportunity."

The mayor said the day after the riot, "There had been absolutely no signs of this coming. Both during the G20 (leaders' summit in Toronto) and the 2010 Olympics, these thugs were well known to be organizing and preparing to take action and criminal activities on the streets. There were no indications of that leading into last night.” If that is so, why weren’t the police searching for these thugs?
Solution

Law-abiding citizens should evacuate a riot zone as quickly as possible, without staying behind to observe. That will not only reduce their own risk of injury, but also make it easier for police to respond with all necessary force without undue fear of harming innocent bystanders. The trouble is than a great many of the people that are in the riots are bystanders who get high on what they are seeing so they hang around.

Further, there is the possibility that the hooligans who are prone to causing damage will not be so willing to cause damage when they realize that they are on the streets by themselves. Most of them, if not all of them are willing to commit these crimes when they have an audience cheering them on but when they are alone, they may be forced to ask themselves, what’s the point in doing it?

If the hooligans continue to damage property, there is a much greater possibility of them being caught in the act by the police because the police don’t have to fight large crowds to get at the hooligans.

What has been said above also applies to looters.

It is local law enforcement that keeps these people in line, and if the pressure of local law enforcement were removed, we would see a rapid expansion of the criminal element in our local communities. Criminals would seem to come out of the woodwork, and they would pursue all sorts of activities that would cause both physical harm and damage to private property. Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough police around to prevent the rioting and looting in Vancouver that fateful night. For this reason, there should have been more police on the streets. This could have been accomplished if the leaders of the city had retained the services of police officers from other communities to assist the Vancouver police.

There are a surprising number of law-abiding citizens who can suddenly switch over to being violent, out of control opportunists if the scenario changes. Sometimes we see this at sporting events when there's a crowd mentality and people storm the field and tear down the football goal following an emotional victory. People do strange things when they feel they are anonymous and that there is little or no risk of being caught and punished. In essence, what I'm saying is that if we did not have local law enforcement, most cities in the United States would be in a state of chaos. I think we'd have a situation of high violence, gangs and warlord control, sort of like we see today in Somalia.

The widespread looting that occurred in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans has forced lawmakers to take a long and hard look at the sanctions on looting, especially since it became an uncontrollable problem following the natural disaster. But stringent impositions have to be placed to prevent a repeat of what has happened and to ensure that citizens are more aware of their actions and the dire consequences they could face afterwards.

We've seen this from time to time in the United States with small, localized breakdowns of law enforcement such as the LA riots or the 1965 Watts riots, for example. What happens, especially in the big cities, is that when the local population figures out that law enforcement is no longer effective (that police officers can't respond for some reason, such as a huge, uncontrollable riot), then the equation of opportunity vs. risk changes in the minds of many people, and they decide that there's very little risk associated with destroying property, stealing, looting and committing other crimes against persons or property.

It is only the immediate threat of arrest that keeps most people relatively civilized. People are capable of a lot in terms of criminal activity, but the fear of jail time keeps most of that behavior restrained.

Furthermore, the judges should be meting out severe penalties for rioters and looters. Losing one’s freedom, income, loss of job, loss of the right to enter the United States for the rest of their lives because of a conviction, should act as a deterrent. Unfortunately, these losses don’t always act as a deterrent to hooligans and looters.

What are really needed are long prison sentences. They will serve two purposes. The first is deterrence and the second is protection of society.

Section 65 of the Canadian Criminal Code states:

Everyone who takes part in a riot is guilty of an indictable (felony) offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years.

Rioters who are convicted of setting fires and/or damaging property should be given the maximum sentence of two years in prison. Although they would be eligible to apply for parole after serving one sixth of their sentence, they should not be eligible for parole until they have served at least sixteen months in prison. During their parole period, they should be prohibited from participating as spectators in any indoor or outdoor arena or stadium or in any street where the public is gathered to participate in festivities, shows or watch sports on large TVs.

Canada has a very strict law against arsonists. Section 434 of the Canadian Criminal Code states:

Every person who intentionally or recklessly causes damage by fire or explosion to property that is not wholly owned by that person is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding fourteen years.

I think that arsonists who commit these crimes during a riot should be sentenced to at least six years in prison. This means that they would be eligible for parole after serving four years in prison.

Looters are thieves and section 334 of the Canadian Criminal Code states:
Everyone who commits theft is guilty of an indictable offence (if the goods stolen exceeds $5,000) and liable to imprisonment for two years. The looter should have to serve at least sixteen months in prison.

If the total value of the goods stolen is less than $5000, the maximum term of imprisonment is eighteen months. I don’t think that such an offender who is a looter during a riot should be eligible for parole until he has served twelve months in prison.

I am sick and tired of reading about these kinds of people appearing in courts where the judges are prepared to kiss the offenders on their asses and wish them well. We need tough sentences if we wish to deter their hooligans. I don’t care if these hooligans are supporting their mothers or their families.

Their mothers and families will be cared for. They will be eligible for welfare if they are unemployed.

Solutions:

Communities need to invest in crime prevention and education. There are things that can be done to reduce crimes against property. There are opportunities for communities to invest in better law enforcement equipment that would help them more quickly process evidence in order to take truly dangerous criminals off the streets. In fact, there are many cities in which the equipment required to convict criminals is really not available, and many law enforcement officials are having to make do with shoddy, outdated equipment that's hampering their effectiveness. By investing in this equipment, the community would get far more convictions of truly dangerous criminals without having to hire any additional personnel. Better equipment really does make a difference.

Outed by their own postings, their friends and even their parents, the young men involved in Vancouver’s downtown riot this week are turning themselves in to police.
Wanda Cassidy, an education professor at Simon Fraser University who studies cyber-kindness, said it doesn’t surprise her that parents are playing a major role in getting their kids to come forward.

At least six rioters have turned themselves in to the police, including one 17-year-old brought in by his mother. The father of another 17-year-old, a water polo player, has also said his son will cooperate with authorities. These parents should be applauded and hopefully these kids have learned some long-term life lessons out of this. Getting their children to take responsibility for what they did by turning themselves in to police before they get arrested could help them get a more lenient sentence,

As the number of rioters being identified by social media grows, so does the number of arrests and charges being made by Vancouver police.

In a statement, Ahmed El-Awadi, executive director of Water Polo Canada, said the player, who has been identified on websites set up to identify rioters, has been suspended from the national team. “We are aware that there are allegations a national team athlete allegedly vandalized a police vehicle during the riots,” said El-Awadi.

The punishment should fit the crime. Losing a scholarship or getting kicked off a team, are appropriate sentences. I think that any rioters, arsonists and looters who are convicted of doing these criminal acts during or after a sporting event should be refused the opportunity to participate in any sporting event either as a spectator or participant for a period of ten years.

Sociologist Rima Wilkes, who teaches at the University of British Columbia, said in the days since the riots, it appears that there are parents actively questioning their children about their actions downtown after Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final.
Vancouver Police officers are already working hard to identify the vandals and others involved in the violence and property damage that followed the Canucks Stanley Cup loss.

Anyone who took photos or video during the mayhem is asked to forward it to the Vancouver Police. I'm sure the VPD will be getting court orders for all the media footage and photos, as well, like the picture here taken by our photographer Gerry Kahrmann of someone lighting a police car on fire. Several sites have already popped up to aid in identifying the criminals.

Thousands of images and hours of videos shot during the riot are being circulated on websites specifically designed to get people to turn in any of the rioters they recognize. Some of the arrests have come out of rioters being identified by friends and family members through social media and more are expected, said Vancouver police Const. Jana McGuinness.

The day after the riot, the Vancouver police department’s web server crashed after nearly 2,000 videos, photos and tips poured in. Hundreds of thousands of tips are expected, McGuinness said.

“I suspect many of these kids came home, felt horrible about what they did because a lot of them likely just got caught up in the moment, and told their parents what happened,” Cassidy said. “And it’s also very likely that many parents recognized their children from online postings. I expect there have been a lot of heavy conversations at home over the last few days.”

London England rarely have riots. The reason for this is that all the streets have close circuit television cameras and the police at police headquarters can see where the police are needed and also record the acts and faces of rioters for court.
And finally:

Many have signed on the Wall of Forgiveness - temporary plywood walls decorated by many messages covers the damaged windows of the Hudson's Bay Company store in downtown Vancouver. The Wall stretches from Granville Street, Georgia Street and Seymour Street.

And finally:

To the credit of the many of the concerned citizens of Vancouver and nearby communities, they were mobilized via social media the following day to volunteer for the clean up and offer their photos of the disorder to police to help identify the guilty parties. If all the citizens of our cities were like these people, riots would never occur and people’s property would be safe. Alas, that will never happen and that’s why I am advocating severe sentences and extreme sanctions for rioters, looters and arsonists. Maybe that will cause the scum that attend our sports activities to think twice before committing their crimes against the public good.