Excerptcize

Paint stained broken window at Hudsons Bay Company in downtown Vancouver (my picture)

This morning while watching the luge training runs and having breakfast, James Duthie (CTV daytime host) interrupted to tell me they were receiving reports of rioting at the Hudsons Bay Company downtown location, even referencing the ’94 riots that occurred in this city when the Canucks lost Game 7 of the Stanley Cup riots. Figuring that CTV would not interrupt their broadcast to mention a small protest from only a few score of people (the number of protesters I’ve been expecting) I grabbed my camera and walked on over.

Whatever had been happening had already moved on by the time I reached the HBC building; all that remained were some red paint splashes, a few broken eggs and a handful of smashed display windows. After snapping a few pics I tried to find someone who had been there when the protesters were; the one person I was able to talk to guessed there were between 100 and 200 protesters, which is rather modest, but around what I would have expected. It should of course be noted that this is a secondhand estimate and people in general are terrible at estimating the size of a crowd.

Making my way back to my cold bacon, I passed a group of police, and just as I did a call came through on the radio for any available officers to go to Pender and Cordova Streets. The officers were able to commandeer a cab, but having run out the door without any cash I hopped on the next bus. This did afford me a lovely chance to chat with two extremely sweet elderly ladies, but once again any crowds that had been formed had already been dispersed by a swath of officers in riot gear by the time I had arrived. The only protest sign I could still see was one decrying the noise at night that hosting the games will cause.

Do these protesters not realize that violent and destructive protests do nothing but undermine their positions? Vancouverites as a whole are extremely sympathetic to the urban issues that Olympic protesters say they are advocating for, but have little patience for groups (many who are not residents of the city) resorting to destruction to underline a point (which neglects to account for those protesters who have no point to make and are purely interested in clashing with authorities.) My note to protest leaders; ‘Break Stuff’ is a mediocre song from a mediocre band, not a dissenting opinion. Should you continue to make it a plank of your protests, any relevant points you may have to make will be lost.

Police in riot gear congregate on Cordova St. after dispersing Olympic protesters (my photo)

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