Vancouver Riots: Citizens Condemn the Thoughtless Actions of a Violent Few

[Sara Cooke]

As many people around the world have by now heard, Vancouver did not win the Stanley Cup last night. But the loss of the Cup has been all but eclipsed by our city's loss of dignity at the hands of a dangerous and deliberate few.

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Almost every Vancouver citizen is shaking their head this morning at the deplorable behaviour that was perpetrated on our streets last night, and the images that were subsequently spread around the world. #Canucksriot was one of the top trending topics on Twitter, as Vancouverites and people from all over weighed-in online about the rioting and looting taking place in our beautiful downtown. This is not our city. This is not Vancouver. Our mayor, Gregor Robertson, summed up how we are all feeling: "It is extremely disappointing to see the situation in downtown Vancouver turn violent after tonight’s Stanley Cup game. Vancouver is a world-class city and it is embarrassing and shameful to see the type of violence and disorder we’ve seen tonight." For anyone who is thinking twice about a visit to Vancouver following last night's behaviour, rest assured that you will find Vancouver citizens to be just the opposite of the thoughtless, angry vandals who set fire to our city last night. Already a group of over 13,000 citizens has rallied on Facebook to plan a volunteer clean-up of the downtown core, with the goal of removing the debris by noon today. It's this sort of community spirit and hometown pride that brought Canucks supporters out in record numbers for every playoff game; this should be our legacy, not the destructive actions of a random few.