2011 Vancouver Stanley Cup riot
Encyclopedia
The 2011 Vancouver Stanley Cup riot was a public disturbance that broke out in the downtown core of Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...

, British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 on Wednesday, June 15, 2011. The riots happened immediately after the conclusion of the Boston Bruins
Boston Bruins
The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The team has been in existence since 1924, and is the league's third-oldest team and its oldest in the...

' win over the Vancouver Canucks
Vancouver Canucks
The Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver, :British Columbia, Canada. They are members of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League . The Canucks play their home games at Rogers Arena, formerly known as General Motors Place,...

 in game seven of the Stanley Cup Finals
2011 Stanley Cup Finals
The 2011 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the National Hockey League , and the culmination of the 2011 Stanley Cup playoffs. It was the 118th year of the Stanley Cup's presentation. The Eastern Conference Champion Boston Bruins defeated the Western Conference Champion Vancouver...

, which won the Stanley Cup
Stanley Cup
The Stanley Cup is an ice hockey club trophy, awarded annually to the National Hockey League playoffs champion after the conclusion of the Stanley Cup Finals. It has been referred to as The Cup, Lord Stanley's Cup, The Holy Grail, or facetiously as Lord Stanley's Mug...

 for Boston. At least 140 people were reported as injured during the incident, one critically; at least four people were stabbed, nine police officers were injured, and 101 people were arrested that night, with 16 further arrests following the event.

Background

City organizers had set up a two-block long fan zone on six-lane Georgia Street
Georgia Street
Georgia Street is an east-west street in the cities of Vancouver and Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. Its section in Downtown Vancouver, designated West Georgia Street, serves as one of the primary streets for the financial and central business districts, and is the major transportation corridor...

 near the Rogers Arena. Two big screen TVs were set up for fans to watch the game. Temporary fences and gates were set up to provide checkpoints where police could control access to the area and check for alcohol (which police generally poured out when found). Following recommendations stemming from the 1994 riot, all liquor stores in the area were closed earlier in the day. Crowds had been generally well-behaved in the fan zone for the previous six games, with roughly 70,000 attending each event. Similar though smaller events had been very successful during the 2010 Winter Olympics
2010 Winter Olympics
The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially the XXI Olympic Winter Games or the 21st Winter Olympics, were a major international multi-sport event held from February 12–28, 2010, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with some events held in the suburbs of Richmond, West Vancouver and the University...

. For the final game, an estimated 100,000 people crowded into the area, and people found ways to enter the zone without being checked for alcohol. Planned corridors to allow movement of emergency vehicles became impassable.

Riot

The riot began to take shape as the game came to a close at 7:45 pm, with some spectators throwing bottles and other objects at the large screens in the viewing area.
Boston Bruins flags and Canuck jerseys were set afire, and soon some rioters overturned a vehicle in front of the main Canada Post
Canada Post
Canada Post Corporation, known more simply as Canada Post , is the Canadian crown corporation which functions as the country's primary postal operator...

 headquarters. According to one eyewitness, a group who was heard chanting "Let's go riot, let's go riot" as early as the first period of the game were among those responsible for flipping the first car.
Fist fights broke out when people standing on porta potties fell when others tipped the porta-potties over. People began jumping on the car that had been first overturned, and then it was set afire. With a crowd of onlookers chanting "burn the truck", a second vehicle in the same area was lit ablaze. Firemen were able to put it out,
but the truck was again set afire after it was overturned. In a nearby parking lot, two Vancouver Police
Vancouver Police Department
The Vancouver Police Department is the police force for the City of Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada. It is one of several police departments within the Metro Vancouver Area and is the second largest police force in the province after RCMP "E" Division.VPD was the first Canadian police force...

 squad cars were later also set on fire.
In total, 17 cars were burned, including police cars. Windows were smashed in a bank and various businesses along the West Georgia corridor, some of which were also looted. Riot police eventually managed to push the rioters away from Georgia, onto Granville Street
Granville Street
Granville Street is a major street in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and part of Highway 99.-Location:Granville Street runs generally north-south through the centre of Vancouver, passing through several neighbourhoods and commercial areas, differing appreciably in their land value and the...

 and Robson Street
Robson Street
Robson Street is a major southeast-northwest thoroughfare in downtown and West End of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Its core commercial blocks from Burrard Street to Jervis are also known as Robsonstrasse. Its name honours John Robson, a major figure in British Columbia's entry into the...

, where the rioters then caused further substantial damage, breaking the windows of several shops and looting, including a Future Shop
Future Shop
Future Shop is Canada's largest consumer electronics retailer. Future Shop currently operates a total of 146 stores across all of Canada's provinces as of December 2008....

, a Sears
Sears Canada
Sears Canada Inc. is a retailer, headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, that operates in all provinces and territories across Canada with a network of 196 corporate stores, 195 dealer stores, 38 home improvement showrooms, 108 Sears Travel offices and a nationwide home maintenance, repair, and...

 and a Chapters
Chapters
Chapters is a Canadian big box bookstore banner owned by Indigo Books and Music. Formerly a company in its own right competing with Indigo, the combined company has continued to operate both banners since their merger in 2001.-History:...

 bookstore. One man was sent to hospital in critical condition after he attempted to jump from the Georgia Viaduct
Georgia Viaduct
The Georgia Viaduct is a twinned bridge that acts as a flyover-like overpass in Vancouver, British Columbia. It passes between Rogers Arena and BC Place Stadium and connects Downtown Vancouver with Strathcona.-History:...

 onto another platform and fell.

Several hundred theatergoers were attempting to leave after a showing of the Broadway musical Wicked
Wicked (musical)
Wicked is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Winnie Holzman. It is based on the Gregory Maguire novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West , a parallel novel of the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz and L. Frank Baum's classic story The Wonderful Wizard...

but were trapped and remained inside the Queen Elizabeth Theatre
Queen Elizabeth Theatre
The Queen Elizabeth Theatre is a performing arts venue in downtown Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Along with the Orpheum and the Vancouver Playhouse, it is one of three facilities operated by the Vancouver Civic Theatres Department .Formerly the home of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, which...

, which was situated in the riot zone.
Transit authorities
Transportation in Vancouver
Transportation in Vancouver has many of the features of modern cities worldwide and some interesting differences. Unlike many large metropolises, Vancouver has no freeways into or through the downtown area. A proposed freeway through the downtown was rejected in the 1960s by a coalition of...

 diverted or halted bus routes normally running through the affected area, and police closed bridge lanes into the city so that people could leave the area but further arrivals were restricted. By midnight, the majority of the crowd had dispersed. The Vancouver Police Department made 101 arrests during the riot. 85 people were arrested for breach of peace, eight for public intoxication and eight for breaking and entering, assault or theft.

Aftermath

Response

Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson
Gregor Robertson (politician)
Gregor Angus Bethune Robertson is a Canadian politician who has been the 39th Mayor of Vancouver, British Columbia, since 2008. He was elected as part of the Vision Vancouver party slate...

 attributed the situation to "a small group of troublemakers". Vancouver Police Department
Vancouver Police Department
The Vancouver Police Department is the police force for the City of Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada. It is one of several police departments within the Metro Vancouver Area and is the second largest police force in the province after RCMP "E" Division.VPD was the first Canadian police force...

 chief Jim Chu
Jim Chu
Jim Chu, O.O.M. is the Chief Constable of the Vancouver Police Department . On June 21, 2007, Jim Chu was named as the successor of Chief Constable Jamie Graham, who retired in August. Chu is the first non-white chief constable in Vancouver.- Biography :Chu grew up in East Vancouver, the oldest...

 said that instigators appeared to be some of the same individuals involved in a protest on the opening day of the 2010 Winter Olympics
2010 Winter Olympics
The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially the XXI Olympic Winter Games or the 21st Winter Olympics, were a major international multi-sport event held from February 12–28, 2010, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with some events held in the suburbs of Richmond, West Vancouver and the University...

, and that they came equipped with eye protection, gasoline and other tools. He called them "criminals and anarchists" who disguised themselves as fans. The idea that anarchists were involved in the violence was rejected by UBC
University of British Columbia
The University of British Columbia is a public research university. UBC’s two main campuses are situated in Vancouver and in Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley...

 political science professor Glen Coulthard, and others in a Vancouver Sun article on June 24. "That this gets tagged as anarchist activity is just more of an assumption or bias that has been around for a long time," said Coulthard. "[A]narchists are a convenient scapegoat for the police to deflect responsibility for what happened," said another commentator. One critic indicated that authorities had made several mistakes in the planning for the crowd - among them allowing parked cars near the screens and leaving newspaper boxes nearby which could be used as projectiles.

Clean-up

After the riot, thousands of volunteers organized on social media sites such as Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...

 and MySpace
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....

 to clean up the damage. The estimated 15,000 volunteers, many taking a day off work, had stated that they went downtown to clean up the damage to "...show that not all Canucks fans are like that". Streets were reportedly clean by 10 am, with volunteers having shown up with brooms and dustpans to clean the city. Boarded up windows were covered in apologies and defences of the city's reputation. In response, the Hudson's Bay Company
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...

, a major retailer in the area, hosted a free pancake breakfast in thanks.

Criminal prosecution

An investigation team of thirty-plus VPD, Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police , literally ‘Royal Gendarmerie of Canada’; colloquially known as The Mounties, and internally as ‘The Force’) is the national police force of Canada, and one of the most recognized of its kind in the world. It is unique in the world as a national, federal,...

, special prosecutors and municipal officers was initially set up to investigate individuals of interest who had been seen looting stores, vandalizing buildings and setting fire to cars during the riot. Several participants in the riots have turned themselves in to police after their faces were broadcast on TV, including the person responsible for setting the first car afire. More than 1,000,000 photos and 1,200 - 1,600 hours of video recorded by citizens have been sent to the Vancouver Police Department as evidence. As of September 2, 2011, no further arrests had been made, and no charges had been laid.

Social media

Many participants in the riot stood and posed for photographs, with some even posting the photos on their own social media accounts. Photos and videos were also taken by onlookers intent on documenting the riot. In the aftermath, those photos and videos were used by many local people outraged by the riot, in an effort to tag and identify rioters and looters on Facebook, YouTube, and other social media sites, and to provide additional information to police for prosecution.
Community participation in assisting police to identify the rioters has been described as unprecedented,
and police admitted to being overwhelmed by the amount of evidence provided.
While riot instigators were described by police as a small group of anarchists, the collected photographs and videos revealed that many participants were not connected and had never been arrested before.
Online shaming campaigns resulted in some riot participants being fired from their jobs and removed from athletic teams. In some cases, violence was threatened against those identified as rioters, prompting one family to flee its home,
and others to express concern about the potential of mob mentality online.
The Vancouver Police Department appealed to citizens, online and otherwise, not to engage in acts of vigilante justice.

Financial losses

CBC News
CBC News
CBC News is the department within the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the news gathering and production of news programs on CBC television, radio and online services...

 reported that the destruction caused by the rioters was worse than the riot that followed the Canucks loss in Game 7 of the 1994 Stanley Cup Finals
1994 Stanley Cup Finals
The 1994 Stanley Cup Final was a best-of-seven playoff series contested between the Eastern Conference champion New York Rangers and Western Conference champion Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League...

, particularly the looting aspects. Early estimates suggested the losses due to vandalism, theft, and damage to property to far exceed $4 million. Several large-scale stores including London Drugs
London Drugs
London Drugs is a chain of Canadian retail stores with headquarters in Richmond, British Columbia. Its primary focus is on pharmaceuticals, electronics, housewares and cosmetics, with a limited selection of grocery items...

, The Bay
The Bay
The Bay is a chain of 91 department stores that operate across parts of Canada. It is the main brand of Hudson's Bay Company , North America's oldest company. It has its headquarters in the Simpson Tower in Toronto. In French, the chain is known as la Baie, short for "Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson"...

, Sears Canada
Sears Canada
Sears Canada Inc. is a retailer, headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, that operates in all provinces and territories across Canada with a network of 196 corporate stores, 195 dealer stores, 38 home improvement showrooms, 108 Sears Travel offices and a nationwide home maintenance, repair, and...

 and Future Shop
Future Shop
Future Shop is Canada's largest consumer electronics retailer. Future Shop currently operates a total of 146 stores across all of Canada's provinces as of December 2008....

 were among many that were looted.

Investigation

A report released 1 September 2011 says that a major contributor to the riot was that Vancouver police underestimated the number of people who would attend the event in the downtown area. The number of people was estimated at 155,000. Once the crowd became unruly, the police's communications systems failed, leading to a loss of control of the situation by civil authorities.

Media coverage

The riots sparked intense media coverage and attention on the local, national, and international level. Local media coverage of the riots began almost immediately after the game ended, with the local CBC, CTV and Global BC stations all running news coverage of the riots, with CTV and CBC doing so from studios located in downtown Vancouver itself. CBC News Network started running live coverage in conjunction with its nationally broadcast evening news show The National, with one reporter calling in her reports from inside the riot.

Prominent publications such as the The Atlantic, The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...

, The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

and USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...

ran editorials critical of the riots and those who participated in them, as well as the city, marking the stark contrast between the Stanley Cup playoffs and the 2010 Winter Olympics
2010 Winter Olympics
The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially the XXI Olympic Winter Games or the 21st Winter Olympics, were a major international multi-sport event held from February 12–28, 2010, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with some events held in the suburbs of Richmond, West Vancouver and the University...

.

A photograph of a young couple kissing in the empty street between rioters and police quickly went viral and has become an iconic image of the riots. While it was initially suspected the photo was staged, video and photo evidence revealed that the woman in the shot had been knocked down by police and her boyfriend was comforting her.

See also

  • 1993 Montreal Stanley Cup riot
  • 1994 Vancouver Stanley Cup riot

External links

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