Riot 2011

Roasting marshmallows on taillights, yo;

Vancouver vs. Boston, Stanley cup game. Fans here are hardcore, but no one thought they were this destructive. Bruins fans could roam the streets and simply be taunted in Vancouver (we are in Canada), while those Canucks fans in Boston got smashed, pissed and spat on. From the start of the playoffs through the Stanley cup, the police here in Vancouver were seemingly... nervous. There were riots in '94 when the Canucks lost to the New York Rangers, but that was comparatively weak to what happened this past Wednesday. Already operating on a tight budget, the police drew upon private security firms, out of city enforcement and increased the number of speed traps / check points dramatically... there was an obvious increase in police viability on and off the road... they needed money. And this is why;

By the end of the second period, people were getting antsy. It had been about 15 years since this hockey fan town has seen anything so glorious (though they did just have the Olympics)... and having been "robbed" of the chance to fight for the cup in '94, people were getting heated. By the time the third period had ended, and Vancouver laid slain, bloody and angry upon the killing fields, the first few cars began to get smashed, torched and within twenty minutes a 5 x 4 block radius erupted into, blissful ignorance; beautiful chaos. Called a disgrace by many, enchanting by others; it was nonetheless, an anarchist ball... a true party. Of course, how could I not mention the "fog" affect that makes any party up to "par." Immediately after the first car or two had been torched and / or flipped, tear gas kicked off the rowdy nature of us all. 

As the party escalated, the destructive nature spread through out the city. Hummers torched and rolled, mini coopers, smart cars, an M5, an A4, two cop cars, a pick up truck, two other sedans... the list goes on and on. And once those cars had been burned or dominated, where to next? ... In the city of glass, one brick, one rock, one sign... ignited it all. 

Once the first few windows dropped, with that awesome, unique and definable shattering-clattering noise, the looting game.. was on. A tuxedo shop, a coffee shop, London Drugs (a classy Rite Aid), Sears, The Bay (a Bloomingdales kinda-deal), Future Shop (where you get yo' subs dunny), Seven Eleven and more: done-dadda. Watches, food, clothing, money, electronics, jewelry, ect - gone out the windows of those with and with out masks (and some are already... fucked.). By no means were there no police. In fact, the full riot squad was out with reinforcements from two outer lying towns... yikes. But fuck it, people got their loot on, their drink on, their chaos on, their fire on. That is, until at various points the men in blue, on horse back, would come charging into the lines of rioters and / or those hundred that got fucked on the spot, got fucked on the spot by men with wooden bats behind thick plexiglass shields. 

Ultimately, the night was a success for some and a dismal disaster for others. People got knocked out and badly hurt by fools lurkin in the shadows, tossing out cheap, hard shots, or instigating fights over truly whack - and bitch - things. Despite a lack of unity amongst the rioters, as long as you kept smart about fists, bottles, knives (and other sharp objects) as well as blunt objects... flying thru the air directed, or indirectly directed, towards your dome piece... it was butter out there. Smile, cause this shit does not happen enough.

To end it all - how could you not with such a mass fervor of anarchy - a rave like scene blew up just outside the heart of ultimate chaos. sweat from dancing, sweat from burning shit, stealing shit, running (and away) from shit, all began to drop into a pool below hundreds to thousands of people that just wanted to get their fuckin' funk, or freak, right on.

Last but not least, we all gotta keep it nyce.

LOCOLOBO

(photo 1, 16, 18 courtesy of whoever took 'em, sorry for the cell phone pictures.)

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