And see how many people with small children were in the crowd that night.
The cops just couldn't go in there with water canons and riot gear.
With all the people in the area the police just couldn't get that aggressive, even later in the evening. After reading all the accounts of that evening (second hand and otherwise) for every idiot looting and rioting there were probably 100 people just standing around and watching. Neither of those parties are actually all that innocent, but for every person just standing there and watching there was probably 5 other people who were holed up somewhere, and at some time during the riot went out into the fray just to get the f$ck out of the area. There were plenty of folks who were in bars watching the game and then the riot broke out around them. Not to mention all the people who work in the area. What do you do if you worked at a retail store, do you stay in the store and possibly end up accosted by looters or do you enter the fray and desperately try to get out?
The cops just couldn't go in there and start breaking heads. Those who were looting and who were just standing around passively watching deserved the full brunt force of the police. But those just trying to get the hell out didn't. And there were lots of folks like that, right up until midnight and beyond.
But yeah, with all the photos and video evidence how has there not been any convictions yet? Hindsight is always 20-20, and I think Vancouver in general got pretty complacent especially with how well things went during the Olympics. I often wonder just what would have happened though if Canada had not won that gold medal in mens hockey...
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"Pain or damage don't end the world. Or despair and beatings. The world ends when you're dead. Until then, you got more punishment in store. Stand it like a man... and give some back."
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