Vancouver Riots 2011: Fires Rage As Canucks Lose Stanley Cup (VIDEO)

The worst nightmare for Vancouver is coming true.

Not only did the city's beloved Canucks lose in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final, it was shut out 4-0. Now a scene reminiscent of 1994 has emerged, when the city rioted under similar circumstances, with random fires, flipped cars, pole climbing, and riot police. (Scroll down for video.)

Beer bottles were tossed at giant TV screens in the game's dying moments, cars and garbage cans were set fire, and fistfights broke out, per the Canadian Press. Flash bombs were used to try to disperse the angry crowd, CBC reports.

See photos from tonight's Vancouver riots here.

Most reports and eyewitnesses, however, say the trouble has been caused by a small segment of fans. "I think it was a few people ... Everybody else is watching, some are cheering," said one eyewitness.

Here's one incredible image from the scene and you can find more here. You can also watch raw video footage of the downtown Vancouver riots below, and ABC has a live video feed.

RELATED: Photos from tonight's Vancouver riots

Comments

[Kimm2]

06:37 AM on 06/20/2011

I wonder...What do you think would happen if all the posters here making negative comments, smearing each other, and looking to blame other people were to gather together in one place, perhaps for a few drinks?

I'm tired of reading all of this negativity. Time to move forward. Vancouverites are generally nice people. Come here, and you'll see.

[Joseph Ravick]

06:35 PM on 06/19/2011

When people feel disenfranchised, disrespected, and powerless, they will obtain power in whichever way is open to them. That is the nature of conflict and society. Any excuse will do if it mean I will feel more powerful; am I an anarchist or merely human? Walk around Vancouver, or any major city in North America, and as you bin-dive for your daily sustenance next to those $50k cars and $400 suits, you wonder why me; or more regularly, why not me? I am privileged. I've never had to bin-dive or been homeless. But hearing the survival stories from my parents who survived the holocaust, I certainly empathized with the marginalized and hurting human who live around me. From the societal point of view, are the Vancouver riots different in cause an effect terms from riots going back thousands of years? So why haven't we learned from history? Is society increasingly behaving insanely if insanity is defined as 'doing the same thing over and over again expecting different outcomes'? I think so.

[Glen McDaniel]

11:10 PM on 06/18/2011

They are acting like a bunch of European soccer fans! Serioulsy, as we used to say in college (North Bay, Ontario), "I went to a fight and a hockey game broke out." More seriously: what does it say when people are so invested in a sport or a team (far removed from their daily lives and concerns) that they feel motivated to become violent, destroying property and inflicting harm when the outcome of a game ("play") is not what they anticipated or hoped for?

[kiddub]

12:14 AM on 06/19/2011

I don't think this has anything to do with the game. It has much deeper roots.

[Glen McDaniel]

07:42 PM on 06/19/2011

I agree. The implications and the motivation are certainly deeper, but they used the game as an excuse for venting their anger and frustration in a very immature and socially inappropriate way.

[jdun263]

06:51 PM on 06/18/2011

What do you expect from a bunch of disrespectful punks and libs who boo our national anthem every chance they get?

[JohnnyRivers]

03:09 AM on 06/18/2011

The CITY government should accept all responsibility... Everyone knew it was going to happen. The CITY HOSTED this massive drunken party. This is what happens when you HOST a 100,000 hockey street party downtown... Duh?
CITY officials created the "situation" and now they are silent of their participation. The mayor should step down for such gross incompetence.

[kiddub]

09:26 PM on 06/18/2011

??

No one bears responsibility but the government? That's the problem here. A bunch of punks who want to make trouble/are upset by a hockey game attack others private property for their own cathartic emotional needs. And now we want to blame the government because they should have controlled "us" better? Give me a break.

[JohnnyRivers]

10:38 PM on 06/18/2011

Each individual crime should be assigned to each individual... BUT, the "OVERALL CRIME" and damage to Vancouver is owned by the mayor and the city of Vancouver.
The mayor did not light any cars on fire that I am aware of, but, it is "obvious" that the mayor supplied the atmosphere. Hosting a 100,000 drunken hockey fan block party in the confined areas of downtown was grossly irresponsible. They do not deserve support from voters and should step down from office. WE ALL KNEW THIS WAS GOING TO HAPPEN eh. We must place blame where it belongs and it belongs to the people that hosted the massive 100,000 drunken hockey fan street party. That's like giving away knives in a prison and not accepting any responsibility of someone getting stabbed.

[lambdin1]

04:12 PM on 06/17/2011

This is exactly why I do not like organized sports. Fans make _sses of themselves. From riots to beating a fan of the opposing team organized sports bring out the worst in people.

[Otherday]

03:17 PM on 06/17/2011

Americans must do something to help our misguided Canadian neighbors reconnect to the finer things in life and away from all the violence, torches, beer, hockey and mayhem. Maybe we could send poets north to share their work in those humble forest and tundra hamlets. We are so fortunate here and should not sit idly by will there is so much need above the border.

[kiddub]

09:27 PM on 06/18/2011

I'd like to point to the last three countries you "helped" through your own generosity. Better yet, how's New Orleans coming?

[unity13]

10:53 AM on 06/17/2011

Somewhere out there is a guy who will never brag about his innate ability to find the closest parking spot again.

[gcogs]

10:36 AM on 06/17/2011

Wow AOL/HuffPo had thier own video. That's pretty cool.

[gcogs]

12:35 PM on 06/17/2011

Well I guess they just referenced The Globe and Mail, RT, CTV, CBS, The Wall Street Journal, and ESPN. Come on HuffPo, start sending your own cameras.

[free lance photogrophher]

03:09 AM on 06/17/2011

I am from vancouver, you have to understand the riots happen because of a few crazy people, who plan this out and take advantage of the situation, mix alcohol and a bunch of teenagers, and keep them in a small area together. and voila. there is also a huge problem with the way society releases their emotions...just keep reading

http://tenmillionslaves.wordpress.com/2011/06/16/the-reason-why-people-riot-after-sporting-events/

[amcl70]

07:30 AM on 06/17/2011

I am surprised (sort of) that this site has not printed a follow up story about the people who came out the following morning to clean the streets, or told about some of the good deeds from people that night (people helping the injured, protecting stores). I certainly do not believe that this reflects on the majority of people in Vancouver at all; it is the work of a few who took advantage of the situation. Fortunately, many of them posed for pictures and put up Facebook posts (seriously, how many examples do people need?). It's sad that these people who had no real interest in the game itself were able to tarnish the image of your beautiful city.

[Cananna]

10:34 AM on 06/18/2011

Acts of grace often go unnoticed.
Those were the real Canucks fans; the people who took the time to clean up the streets.

[JohnnyRivers]

03:17 AM on 06/18/2011

Think hard! How smart was it for the Vancouver mayor to host a 100,000 person drunken hockey party in the streets downtown... Duh?
The mayor should be the next to burn. Wake-up and place blame where it belongs. WE ALL KNEW THIS WAS GOING TO HAPPEN.

[sushi27]

02:42 AM on 06/17/2011

I understand that hockey is the most important sport to Canadians. I understand that a shutout in the Stanley Cup final game is like an american football team being shut out by a canadian football team at the Superbowl. What I don't understand is why you would destroy your own beautiful city?

[free lance photogrophher]

03:09 AM on 06/17/2011

emotions are in the wrong place, and its only a few

http://tenmillionslaves.wordpress.com/2011/06/16/the-reason-why-people-riot-after-sporting-events/

[Cananna]

01:13 AM on 06/17/2011

This is what real Vancouver Canucks fans look like:
http://www.saynotovancouverriot.com/
:)

[otop016]

01:48 AM on 06/17/2011

Keep trying...most will now view Vancouver fans as knuckle dragging, violent pricks..........and with good reason.

[Cananna]

09:31 PM on 06/17/2011

and they and you would be wrong.

[kiddub]

09:29 PM on 06/18/2011

Name a major American Sports City and I will find an example to prove that ALL sports fans are knuckle dragging...blah blah blah

[livefortruth]

11:35 PM on 06/16/2011

One's identity thrown into who wins a Hockey Game.

This world is in trouble and it's time to pay attention.

[John Toth]

11:32 PM on 06/16/2011

Hey Canadians, you should have started rioting waaaayyy before the game ended. 4-0. What a blowout. Probably should have started burning cars at halftime. :)

[Cananna]

11:53 PM on 06/16/2011

Nice!

[saskatoonie]

05:42 PM on 06/17/2011

That's okay, we realize that the Bruins have many Canadian players!

[Winthorpe]

10:37 PM on 06/16/2011

Throw the book at these bums. I support putting video cameras in all public places, a la London.