Login / RegisterPolice chief Jim Chu blames Vancouver riot on "criminals, anarchists and thugs"
The violence and destruction in downtown Vancouver Wednesday night involved triple the number of people that participated in the riot following the Canucks’ 1994 Stanley Cup loss, according to Vancouver police chief Jim Chu.
But Chu, who blamed the majority of the mayhem on “criminals, anarchists and thugs,” said officers were able to bring the situation under control in three hours, half the time it took them in 1994.
“There was a group of people that were criminals and anarchists that were bent on causing that destruction,” he told reporters at a news conference today (June 16).
“They came prepared – they had incendiary devices, they had weapons, they had a plan, they had objectives.”
Chu said some rioters came armed with masks, goggles, gasoline and fire extinguishers.
The chaos that erupted at about 8 p.m. following the Canucks' 4-0 loss to the Boston Bruins resulted in fifteen burned cars, including two police cars, and extensive property damage and looting.
Police have not released information yet on the number of injuries, but assistant fire chief Wade Pierlot said there were 387 incidents in the city last night, which consisted mainly of fire and nuisance calls.
One man is in critical condition after falling from the Georgia Viaduct. Witnesses indicated he was not pushed but was trying to jump from one part of the viaduct to another, according to Chu.
“We are looking into his background, but it does not look like it was an incident that involved foul play, it involved reckless behaviour,” he said.
Nine police officers were injured, including one officer who required 14 stitches after he was hit in the head with a brick after trying to stop looters at a sporting goods shop. Another officer received a concussion after being hit in the head below his helmet, while some officers suffered human bites.
Pierlot said some fire inspectors on the street were physically accosted. Other fire and rescue officers had difficulty accessing the fires.
“The angry crowd’s something that we’re not exposed to very often ”¦the way of actually being treated was new to many of us, so it was a new experience,” said Pierlot. “We also had rocks and bottles thrown at us in our trucks.”
Chu maintained police had been preparing for a similar scenario to the riots that erupted in 1994.
He defended the police department's approach in quelling the chaos, noting the size of the crowd initially made it difficult for officers to deal with it effectively. He said police quickly shifted from a "meet and greet" approach to one of crowd dispersal and safety.
"Our members temporarily left hot spots so they could regroup in larger units to have sufficient members to safely encourage the crowd to disperse and to take assertive action when they wouldn’t," he said.
Chu said there close to 100 arrests Wednesday night, and police intend to make many more.
As of this morning, police have received 120 tips on their tip line, and police are asking members of the public to send them their photos and videos of the riots.
“We are fully committed to tracking down these criminals, and arresting them for their crimes,” he said.
The police chief recognized the people in the crowd who showed “humanity, integrity and courage”.
He said when the riot broke out at one of the outdoor Stanley Cup viewing sites, a group of citizens linked arms to form a barrier so police could rescue an injured person lying on the ground.
Chu said every aspect of last night’s events will be examined over the coming weeks and months.
You can follow Yolande Cole on Twitter at twitter.com/yolandecole.
Hopefully one day Vancouver will develop some real culture instead.
A woman posted on Facebook about overhearing a conversation on an incoming bus where a group were discussing plans to loot and riot after the game. It seems they got off on that sort of thing. She assumed they were fantasizing, since who would discuss such a scheme openly if they were actually planning to do it? But she later recognized some of their faces among those arrested - neither anarchists nor hockey fans, just criminals.
But somehow I doubt there were enough professional criminals to fill up several blocks with rioters.
How about: COMMON DRUNKS RIOT AND DESTROY DOWNTOWN VANCOUVER OVER CANUCKS LOSS.. and then go on to ask for community operation on identifying looters and people who cause property damage... Maybe it's your understanding of Anarchism that made you label these Jocks and common drunks "Anarchists", do some research before you spread lies, this wasn't a protest about anything: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarchy#Anarchism
Seems alot of people are hell-bent on thinking many of these fools weren't Canucks fans... I'm sorry but your wrong.... and we have pictures to prove it: http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/06/16/photos-riots-fire-destruction-af...
See the regular looking little girl setting the cop car on fire at 7:53 in the video.
There was no anarchist or evil instigator nothing but a drunken underage girl and a bunch of other hooligans. Perhaps we need to point finger because the regular folks destroyed Vancouver not the bad people. Perhaps your idiot child, neighbor or friend was in the riot and it hits far to close to home?
It would be much nicer to blame the bad anarchist for all our troubles but no it was the beer fueled idiots who crave violence.
The hangers on who crowded the streets egging the assholes on and blocking the ambulance and fire crews from doing there jobs are all regular people.
I feel bad for every single person who was not involved and suffered from this. This is a black eye on Vancouver and the Regular people did it.
Face facts. Look at who looted the London Drugs, Bay, and MAC. Regular boys and Girls in a mob mentality all caught up in a drunk rage. Lets persecute these people to the fullest extent of the law and make them pay for it all. Lets also place the blame where it is due on the individuals not the imaginary ring leaders.
His plan did not work.
His job is to anticipate and deter crime and to ensure the proper deployment of his officers and to everything in his power to protect the public.
He failed. The mayor did everything in his power for the thousands to be downtown when any moron could have seen the strong possibility of a huge riot. The mayor and Chu owe the city an apology and the Chu needs to resign now as he did not do his job.
Should we be paying this guy over $400,000 for the poor job he did in this instance. I say, no Chu must go.
There were dudes who came prepared, yes. They didn't want to get caught - dark clothing, something to cover the face, etc. They had no purpose other than to start some shit for the fun of it all.
Did anyone see an actual 'molotov cocktail' being thrown/used? Incendiary 'devices'? - maybe some of these kids can use a lighter, not much else
This riot could have been avoided or at least contained much faster than it was. We saw how it was done during the Olympics, there is just no excuse! They had PLENTY of warning and past experience. This is a huge failure of leadership from Gregor Robertson, City Council and Chief Chu. They are all responsible for lax oversight and planning.
This makes the O Village and its loses look good.
Gregor must go too.
To those who say this doesn't have to do with politics- I would say,look at the correlation in the age of the participatants and the various riots in Greece,Spain,Egypt. They may not know it, but these Canadian rioters are reacting to economic stagnation which has effected the entire globes young.
Add to that the average home price in Vancouver: $1 million and you have a disenfranchised youth population.
It's pretty sad that he's admitting that a bunch of low IQ lugans can out-organize the VPD.