Clean up our city and our reputation

This post is mostly pictures. Please enjoy the images that prove Vancouver is not the images we saw Wednesday night.

Hundreds took to the streets to clean up our fair city

The wall of sorrow, where thousands posted the morning after

The shadow of these riots will linger for a long time, but at least we were able to witness a bright, positive aspect to our city, and to humanity. We are not always destructive and violent. When pushed by what we see as wrong, or degrading, many more than I believed, step up to make a difference.

Good job Vancouver.

I'm apologising, but what for?

And now for more on the riots.

As a disclaimer, I have no interest naming and shaming. Whilst effective as a deterrent, it serves only to cause mob justice towards otherwise innocent people, as this post will show. The links contain names, for that I cannot control.

Read the apology of a teen involved in the riot. This particular young man received some ardant vilification following the posting of a photo of him trying to set a police car on fire, and having it posted on the public shaming blog that arised after the riot.

In his apology, he apologises to all those in his community around him. His father is a doctor in the town that they live in, and accordingly he has suffered from some of the backlash that this has caused. My sympathy lies totally with his parents. I am sure that they never taught there son to behave in such a way, but because of his actions, his family's reputation has been brutally tarnished. His father's rating on an internet website allowing you to review your physician has dropped dramatically, although it appears that site will adjust the reviews accordingly.

His family will live in the spectre of their sons behaviour for a long time. He had to close his practice for a few days to stem the bombardment of phone calls that the vigilante justice squad was making. Don't get me wrong, this young man made a grave error and should be punished soundly, but his parents are now the unfortunate victims of his maligned behaviour.

Vancouver burns, but learns anonymity in an age of social media is impossible

In the wake of Vancouver's unsuccessful attempt to capture the Stanley Cup for the first time in their 40 year history, the streets were blighted by the grip of a few bottom feeders, aided by peer pressured youths and gawking crowds.

In reality, only about 10% of the crowd were actually causing any trouble, by overturning any unfortunate vehicle, porta-potty and garbage bin in their path. Several troublemakers showed up with gasoline, and I imagine it was not in case their car ran out.

But what of the other 90%? Thousands and thousands stood by and watched as willful and wanton destruction took place. Many recorded and photographed what they saw. A select few intervened but were quickly, and brutally, beaten down, for their attempts at being a Good Samaritan. To those, I feel truly sorry.

However, I am very concerned by the number of onlookers that remained in Vancouver's downtown during the events. How many burning cars and smashed windows do you need to see? Some people claim they were 'stuck' downtown. A ludicrous claim at best. Sure, it might take a longer walk, but if it means leaving the scene of a terrible crime, then do it!

Looting is the most brainless form of theft, thinking that the anonymity of the crowd means that stealing is more acceptable, because the 'item' was right there in front of you. Needless to say, the Louis Vutton bags on Craigslist the next day were more than likely stolen the night before.

Not to get into a legal lesson, but once the police have read the riot act, which they did in Vancouver on Wednesday night, you have the time the police have allowed to disperse and head home. Staying in the group now constitutes a crime, and the Vancouver Police Department gave rioters 10 minutes to disperse. As we saw on the night, many did not follow the advice.

Now the VPD has said that from all those pictures and videos taken, responsible citizens should identify those involved to help rounding up those responsible. Vancouverites have taken to the task in an unbelievable way. Mutliple groups on Facebook now exist to identify and shame those involved. One rioter had his Facebook status become so infamous, that he ended up trending on Twitter. Type in Brock Anton on Google or Twitter and you will see.

Tomorrow, I will talk about the efforts made by the brighter side of Vancouver to clean the city, and make some kind of recompense for the damage done by those intent on destruction.