The day after mayhem erupted on the streets of Vancouver, B.C., over the Canucks’ loss to the Boston Bruins in the Stanley Cup final, thousands of residents came downtown to help with cleanup efforts and write messages on the sheets of plywood covering shattered windows.
Horrified by the riot, residents of this Canadian city started writing on plywood covering broken windows messages such as “We Love Van,” “The Real Vancouver is here today,” “Respect Our City” and “We love our Canucks…we don’t love rioting fools.”
By mid-afternoon, nearly every inch of the coverings were written on, while thousands more people stood by reading the inscriptions, most in silence. Two of the most heavily damaged buildings, The Bank of Montreal and Hudson’s Bay Company department store, drew the biggest crowds.
Standing outside of The Bay, one man just finished writing on the plywood and said the experience will help unify the city.
I wrote that, “this was not true Canuck fans and that it was disrespectful and disgusting what happened to our city.” I think the riot did have, I wouldn’t say a positive outcome, but somewhat, because it really bought the city a little bit closer together with all the messages and descriptions on the walls.
Encouraged by a Facebook campaign that started quickly in reaction to the riot, thousands of people turned out earlier in the day to help clean up the broken glass and debris.
The Vancouver Police Department reported over one hundred people were arrested during the riot. They are also hoping social media and technology will help them catch more of the rioters. Police have asked the public to forward them any pictures and videos.
