Olympics Protest in Vancouver: SLIDESHOW

Protestors lined the streets in Vancouver today, disrupting the path of the Olympic torch and forcing it to reroute. Protestors gathered for different reasons. Anti-Olympics protestors joined forces with anti-racism and anti-tar fields protestors. All were quickly dispersed by police men on bicycles and horses. Ahh Canada...

• • • • • • • The protest was staged during the Olympic Torch Relay in Vancouver.

 

Comments

[hockeydude]

04:45 PM on 02/21/2010

The protesters all come out and play because they know they are safe when the foreign reporters are here. Especially American media is here...

In Canada, usually you could easily get tasered or beat up by the police even if you protest peacefully. Now the foreign reporters are here. Vancouver police must put up a good front and hide their long history of police brutality.

Canadian police can get away with police brutality easily, they are never punished for their wrong doing.
Google "police taser death Robert Dziekanski Vancouver Airport" yourself.

Or check these links
Police tasered and killed an unarmed man:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_0-kjTybfQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CR_k-dTnDU

Police beat up an unarmed man who was mistaken for suspect:
http://news.aol.ca/article/vancouver-police-apologize-after-man-beaten/773581/

All these incidents just indicate that - In Canada, you are guilty until proven innocent.

[Jotman]

07:06 PM on 02/14/2010

Jotman.com live-blogged the protests and opening days of the Olympics. Daily updates.

[Candiackid]

01:51 AM on 02/14/2010

Just sitting in Fat Burger..minding my own business..when noticed the chaos on the news ..just blocks away...when ..someone dressed in black from head to toe...stole my onion rings..but no worries it was just my husband..scary stuff though as a tourist with four kids just trying to take in some Olympics....

[Alrightythen]

03:59 PM on 02/13/2010

Interesting comments. As a local, I have mixed feelings about the Olympics being here. We did not have the opportunity to vote on the Olympics, it was a choice made for us and there are a great many people who resent the sacrifices we are being asked to make in order to help pay for them.

We have just lost 92% of provincial funding for the Arts, Vancouver community centres & libraries are on the chopping block as well as attractions that have been available to the public for 30+ years. The provincial government has just announced further cuts to services for poor children.

Housing has been put on the back-burner. Vancouver is one of the most expensive cities in the world. We have very little social housing here, so many people (who have decently paid work) are spending upwards of 60-75% of their income on housing.

Most people who live in Vancouver cannot afford to attend the Olympics-- so there are resentments. It was inevitable and represents a deficiency in our politicians that they did nothing to ensure a safe, enjoyable Games for all.

I welcome the world. Enjoy your visit & please try to understand that these Games are being held right next to the poorest urban district in the entire country-- while the celebrating goes on at great expense there are children right beside you who will not eat today.

And that is why people are smashing windows. What would you do if it were your child?

[viewfromuphere]

01:56 PM on 02/13/2010

Well CBC is now reporting approximately 200 of these "non violent" protesters are busy throwing stuff and damaging vehicles in downtown Vancouver... Wearing the appropriate face masks, etc
Vancouver Anti olympic committee.. You're stock plumments with everyone of those idiots causing the trouble. There was space for peaceful protest..what do you want to bet those spaces will be gone.

[KIVPossum]

06:39 AM on 02/13/2010

Protesting peacefully - fine and dandy

Forcing the torch to reroute - arrogant and self-centered

[Hugh-Leighton]

06:21 AM on 02/13/2010

What surprised me about this "protest" is the lable. Yes, there were signs for some causes but it looked to me like the purpose was to say to the media, "Hey, we are here and this is what we believe in". Whether I agree with what they believe or not, it is nice to know that in my country people can do that and they will not be pushed around by the police carrying weapons, but merely asked to make room for a symbol of world wide celebration. I was a little dismayed by some of the comments, however, but I guess that will happen so long as we choose not to toot our own horn out of simple politeness. I still believe that my country is more about getting it done rather than wrangling over how to get it done. A case in point; our relationship with our native population is by no means perfect, but it is getting better year after year as the rest of us recognise the colour and vibrancy of their contribution to our national heritage. If you have reason not to visit us, that is sad, but the loss is your's.

[huffyhuffhuff]

03:28 AM on 02/13/2010

No one should profit off of anything. We should do away with all corporations and jobs and go live in trees and eat our own poop.

[JayRobThom]

02:38 AM on 02/13/2010

I wonder if Mickey D's is broadcasting the same commercial of a girls' hockey team being treated 'like Olympians' by their coach -- i.e., by treating them to fast food?

The greatest hypocritical show on earth, offering images of humanitarian globalism while expanding corporate exploitation & leaving real people out in the snow . . .

[gerontion72]

01:52 AM on 02/13/2010

Good for the protesters. The Olympics are nothing but a massive waste of public money. Go slide down a hill on your own dime. Homes not games.

[opprobrious]

02:01 AM on 02/13/2010

I saw an interview with a female protestor on CTV earlier today and I was quite impressed with how non-combative and well-spoken she was. My impression is the protestors don't want to disrupt the games so much as they want to bring attention to important issues: the cost of the games to the taxpayer at a time when there is poverty and homelessness (and healthcare cutbacks).

[sandiegoconservative]

12:14 AM on 02/14/2010

Sounds like someone preferred to play Dungeons and Dragons in the basement on the weekends, instead of trying to go out for sports.

[imperator prime]

07:27 AM on 02/14/2010

That might be one of the most chauvinistic things I've read in a while.

So, "Homes, not Games" = basement RPGer = an opinion that doesn't matter? I challenge you to actually *validate* even one of those leaps, let alone both of them. Tell us all, please, how even *if* someone calling for the expenditure of public money on the public good (in the form of housing the homeless) rather than funding a temporary police-state for the sake of an (arguably rigged, drug-addled) athletic competition was necessarily a fan of tabletop role-playing games, that this would render their opinion on social policy worthless. I'm curious to witness logic's capacity to endure torture.

[ejhickey]

01:31 AM on 02/13/2010

The protests against the Olympics included the "Poverty Olympics". Among the events were shopping cart races, timed aluminum can collection and a stench competition - separate events for male and females.

[gracie99]

12:33 AM on 02/13/2010

Looks like a lot of people protesting homelessness. I didn't realize that Canada had that sort of problem -- just as we do in the US.

Wonder if the Canadians are also experiencing the same alarming turn to a Third World type economy, with just rich and poor and little in between?

I'm glad those protesters got their message across to the world with these photographs.

[opprobrious]

01:53 AM on 02/13/2010

"Wonder if the Canadians are also experiencing the same alarming turn to a Third World type economy, with just rich and poor and little in between?"

Canadian banks are in much better shape, the housing market hasn't melted down and the per capita debt as a percentage of GDP is ~$18K/Cdn (as opposed to $40K/US citizen). So on the surface they aren't but Canadians live in the same world you do and are faced with the same global issues that concern you.

[Rock Jocelyn]

02:58 AM on 02/13/2010

Canada, on the whole, has a much smaller income gap than the U.S. It's mostly middle class. In Vancouver, however, it's astronomical. The average income is $56,000/year, but the average home costs over $500,000. There is a 1+ year waiting list for public housing, a huge drug problem, and not a lot of middle class-level jobs. In short, the average income may be $56,000, but this is offset by the extremely wealthy. Most people in the city make below the living wage.

Many of the already-overstretched public programs for people in poverty in Vancouver have been eliminated or had their budgets cut to pay for the Olympics, which further exacerbates the issue. These Olympic protests are basically Canada's version of a class war, and I'm glad that the Huffington Post is covering them, as I've yet to see any mention of them on NBC. I guess we'll see what happens.

[tisfilm]

12:33 AM on 02/13/2010

Please hope not they are teabagger???
LOL

[SuperRyan]

01:28 AM on 02/13/2010

Nope, more like aged hippies. They are protesting social spending cuts. The exact opposite of what the Tea Baggers want.

[patnb]

11:33 PM on 02/12/2010

Why did they disperse the protesters? Just tell them to stay on the side of the road, and let freedom of speech carry on.

[SuperRyan]

01:30 AM on 02/13/2010

They weren`t actually dispersed. More like stopped from interfearing with the torch relay and the opening events. They were still allowed to hang out two blocks from the stadium with all their signs and free speech.

[ejhickey]

01:34 AM on 02/13/2010

Only one person was arrested an only after the protestors started throwing sticks at the police and two officers were injured. the Vancouver police are publicly committed to letting people have their Canadian rights of free speech.

[ljkcan]

08:34 PM on 02/12/2010

I feel bad for the veteran's that were going to be involved in the flame ceremony. As for the person who has sworn not to come to Canada until we stop the seal slaughter.

Everyday Canadians are not out there slaughtering seals. Try to look at the good things Canada has to offer. Little violence and polite people.