2010 Heart Attack disrupts Vancouver on day two of Winter Olympics

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      For almost two spirited hours today (February 13) under a grey morning sky, there was little doubt about who owned the downtown streets of Vancouver.

      “Our streets!”, “Our streets!”, “Our streets!” anti-Olympic protesters defiantly chanted as they stepped off the sidewalk off Thornton Park at about 9:05 a.m. and occupied the northbound lane of Main Street, starting what turned out to be close to a full-blown riot.

      Their ground zero: the intersection of Denman and Georgia streets where they hoped to block traffic going in and out of the Lions Gate Bridge, an artery leading to the skier paradise of Whistler.

      It’s day two of the 2010 Olympic Games, an event that for years has stirred conflicting passions among many Vancouverites.

      About 500 mostly black-clad and masked demonstrators showed up at the park for the event billed as "2010 Heart Attack". By the time they hit the streets, they were pumped up by what a leader promised on the bullhorn as “fuck day full of action”.

      It didn’t take long before the action started, and right before the eyes of bicycle-riding police in yellow jackets.

      At the intersection of Main and Wilson Streets, plastic road markers closing off the viaducts were toppled. At East Georgia Street, the first news box–Metro’s–came crashing down. This wasn’t the last of the several news and post office boxes to be trashed. Several moments ahead, a Georgia Straight box came down at the corner of Pender and Hamilton Streets.

      This wasn’t the traditional placard-carrying protest that many are familiar with. It wasn’t a peaceful and pretty event.

      As organizers have long advertised, it was one where a diversity of tactics  were to  be employed.  

      “This is what democracy looks like!” protesters shouted as a hint of marijuana smoke wafted into the morning air.

      A van bearing the sign of a government ambulance supervisor rode ahead of the march until it reached the corner of Hastings Street.

      A brief moment of tension ensued as the crowd surged near the front of the Vancouver Police Department station. Would they spray  anything at  the cop shop? Nothing like that happened and after a few seconds they retreated toward Hastings Street.

      Moving westward along Hastings Street and occupying all lanes, the demonstrators unfurled a huge black banner with deep red letters proclaiming the participation of the  Anti-Poverty Committee, a group that is known for unconventional ways of political expression.

      As they made it past Carrall Street, about three bike-riding cops quickly surrounded an unoccupied police patrol car parked on the northern side of Hastings, fearing perhaps it would be targeted.

      The protesters turned left on Cambie Street, and a couple grabbed two grey garbage boxes and spilled their contents onto the pavement.

      The crowd turned right on Pender Street and more news boxes came down. They manoeuvred left on Richards Street, putting them just two blocks off West Georgia Street.

      By 9:50 a.m., they were on West Georgia Street, and immediately one could sense that things are about to go up several notches in intensity. Police had their hands full redirecting traffic, and cars bearing the marks of Olympic organizer Vanoc were told to quickly get out of the scene.

      The Bay store, with all of its Olympic paraphernalia, was hit. Windows were either spray-painted or smashed.

      There was the constant sound of metal grating against cement, as news boxes were dragged onto the pavement.

      At 10:05 a.m., as the demonstrators approached Burrard Street, the first antiriot police were seen. Before reaching Thurlow Street, squads of antiriot police began boxing in the marchers.

      Here the first scuffle occurred as a couple of youthful demonstrators attempted to stop the antiriot police from shadowing the march. A man was pinned to a wall, and a police officer said: “You’re disturbing the entire city.”

      It was clear at this time, around 10:10 a.m., that the police would make their move. Crowds following the marchers were told the stay back, but such orders weren’t followed.

      At the wide intersection of West Georgia and Cardero Streets, just before Denman Street, a wall of police and cop cars came. The “2010 Heart Attack” wasn’t going to move any further.

      By this time, the ranks of the demonstrators had thinned to about 200 or 300. They looked like they were outnumbered by the antiriot police.

      Arrests quickly followed. A woman dressed entirely in black was grabbed and quickly surrounded by a squad of bicycle-riding police, who dragged her to a patrol wagon. Legal observers followed on the sidewalk, asking her for her name. She responded with a name that sounded something like “Dana Reily”.

      Another man was held by both arms by two cops, and wasalso thrown into the wagon. A legal observer told the Straight at the scene that there may have been four or five people nabbed by police. But even arrests didn’t break the demonstrators' defiance. They kept banging the inside walls of the wagon until the vehicle took off.

      At 10:35 a.m., the corner of West Georgia and Cardero Streets were occupied by rows of police officers. The streets belonged no more to the young men and women of 2010 Heart Attack.

      Comments

      125 Comments

      Mark Stevens

      Feb 13, 2010 at 1:19pm

      This is what democracy DOESN'T look like. This is what fascist brown shirts look like. These losers should stay home.

      Graham Williams

      Feb 13, 2010 at 1:21pm

      Can we avoid using the racially loaded term "paddy wagon" please?

      Irish Canadians everywhere are fine with the use of that term, just not when it's used to house cowards that wear masks while pretending vandalism is civil disobedience. "Hooligan wagon" or "Vehicle for transporting those with nothing better to do than engage in mischief" would be more appropriate in this case.

      Dhorea

      Feb 13, 2010 at 1:28pm

      what a bunch of thugs ! I am ashamed to be an activists if this is what the NOW generation thinks is PEACEFUL PROTEST
      You are all a bunch of IDIOTS YOU are worse than any government when this type of behaviour is encouraged and thought to be useful in any way.
      SHAME ON YOU
      and you wont show your FACE ! GUTLESS to top it off GUT-LESS
      do you HEAR ME ??????
      Hiding like a Terrorist makes you ONE ~ take off your masked & act like HUMAN BEINGS not TERRORISTS! what is the matter with you? do you really think this will help at all? NO all you do is turn people away, the people you need to be with you
      IDIOTS
      GO HOME AND THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU HAVE DONE

      Kennedy

      Feb 13, 2010 at 1:32pm

      Jerks like this ruin it for people with valid arguments to be aired with non-violent civil disobedience.

      Guardian article (printed)

      Feb 13, 2010 at 1:33pm

      No matter the situation, there’s always someone intent on spoiling other people’s fun. Such is the case with Vancouver’s Olympic Games, where a cadre of loudmouth, red-in-the-face activists and hyperbolic critics have unleashed opinion pieces that blame the Games for the closure of local schools and stoke fears of an impending police state. What nonsense. While playing host to the Olympics may have its shortcomings, the massive, Games-led public investment in Vancouver’s infrastructure and arts will benefit residents of this city and province long after the Olympics have closed up shop.”

      — The Guardian

      Charlie Smith

      Feb 13, 2010 at 1:34pm

      Graham Williams,
      Our senior editor, Martin Dunphy, did not edit this article. He often talks in the office about how the term "paddy wagon" should not be used. I have replaced the term with "patrol wagon" in response to your comment. I didn't call it the "hooligan wagon", but you're free to offer that point of view. And we'll run comments by those who disagree with you.
      Charlie Smith

      Barb R

      Feb 13, 2010 at 1:35pm

      Morons.

      Kw

      Feb 13, 2010 at 1:44pm

      please do not allow these freaks and balaclaved children to be spokespersons for free speech and legal protest in B.C. They stand for nothing of substance but an avenue to bring out their own aggression and show their sense of entitlement.
      These are nothing but spoilt, children and if they don't look out it won't be the police they should be afraid of but the population of British Columbia.
      If they are looking for a war they may just find one ....... just in an most unexpected spot.

      Enough!

      Feb 13, 2010 at 1:51pm

      This radical bulls**t has to stop! You are not helping any cause and you are hurting a lot more! You masked cowards are barely worth the air you breath!

      Black Block go home

      Feb 13, 2010 at 2:04pm

      As someone who protested at Saturday's anti-Olympics rally, these clowns doing the work of police agent provocateurs don't represent me.