Thursday, August 15, 2002
Violence and conflict with the police at Vancouver's annual "Celebration Of Light" fireworks festival is on the rise.
"Police may be claiming violent incidents at this year's fireworks festival were no worse than normal, but ambulance statistics tell a different story.
Detective Scott Driemel, spokesman for the police department, said this week that the level of violence at this year's fireworks has been lower than during the previous decade of fireworks events. Yet more ambulances were dispatched in the first three nights of festivities at this year's Celebration of Light than for all four nights last year...
...Several nasty incidents were reported during this year's Celebration of Light, which draws 300,000 to 400,000 to English Bay and Kitsilano beaches.
After the first night of fireworks, July 31, police reinforcements had to use horses to rescue a group of police officers who were surrounded at the intersection of Denman and Davie streets while trying to handcuff and arrest some unruly youths. On the same night, a youth had the end of his finger cut off with a machete and there were several brawls on the street.
On Aug. 3, a fight between youths resulted in two stabbings, while after the Aug. 7 event, police battled with a gang of youths trying to storm the Robson SkyTrain station. Bystanders have also been attacked on each of the three nights...
..."We tend to get a lot of youth in gangs or wannabe gangs and when police approach one of their comrades, we quite often find the police get surrounded. It's unnerving because there are so many people out there, but we can respond quickly to calls for help," said Day, adding officers this year started wearing bright vests so other police could identify them quickly if they are surrounded...
...The policing bill for this year's event is $320,000. Police had asked for additional funding so more officers could patrol the event this year, but the request was turned down by the city. Even if it had been approved, however, it would have been hard to get the extra cops because of staffing shortages due in part to the Port Coquitlam pig farm investigation, Day said."
- Vancouver Courier, Sunday, August 11, 2002
"While some people jumped on vehicles, pepper sprayed bystanders and broke windows Wednesday night, police said they were otherwise "pleased with how the evening went."
"There were a few specific incidents where the crowd of people did in fact jump on vehicles, causing damage," said Vancouver police Detective Scott Driemel.
Despite reports, Driemel said, police did not use pepper spray on anyone attending the fireworks competition."
- Vancouver Sun, Friday, August 09, 2002
A letter from a citizen in the same issue contradicted Dreimel's statement to the Vancouver Sun on the Vancouver Police officer's use of pepper spray.
" ...refusing to leave when instructed by police resulted in a few of them being pepper sprayed... ...I saw at least a dozen arrests, some in which weapons were confiscated..."
- Larry Greenway, Vancouver Sun, Friday, August 9, 2002
As did the another local newspaper.
"Several people were pepper sprayed..." - Terminal City, Friday, August 9, 2002
Other citizens wrote to the Vancouver Sun about police brutality after Wednesday night's event.
"On Aug. 7, as our teenagers were returning home from the HSBC Powersmart Celebration of Light, they were disturbed to see at least four police officers using their nightsticks on a person, even after he was on the ground and had ceased moving. Undue force was evident.
When some in the crowd shouted "police brutality," they were silenced by rough handling, handcuffs and a stint in the paddy wagon. No names were taken or arrests made and they were released back to the street at intervals. The individual hit with the night sticks was also released. What did he do that required such excessive force but wasn't cause for an arrest? What was his physical condition?...
...To the Vancouver police, please review your crowd control policies for the sake of your officers and the public.
- Beth Mowat and Susan Errico, Tuesday, August 13, 2002
In a previous statement we relayed a report on Wednesday night's events. "Later on Wednesday night hundreds of thousands of citizens gathered at the beach near downtown Vancouver for a fireworks display that ended with the crowd blocking off major streets downtown, the intervention of police who arrested several members of the crowd, an attempt by the crowd to charge the police line in response, and attacks on vehicles and store-front windows."
Scott Dreiemel would later condemn citizens who used pepper spray on Vancouver police on the final night of the fireworks.
"At the conclusion of the show, thousands poured off the beach, and on to local streets. Some became rowdy as they pushed their way through the West End, targeting seven police officers and several ambulance attendants with pepper spray, said Vancouver Police Detective Scott Driemel. Police took some suspects into custody Saturday night and are evaluating whether charges should be laid. Driemel said the pepper spray incident could have put other citizens in danger because police and ambulance crews were short-staffed after their colleagues were taken away for treatment.
"This was a real thoughtless, irresponsible, reckless act committed by cowards," said Driemel Sunday afternoon. More than 100 additional police officers were brought in to patrol the event, which saw the usual mischief and vandalism."
-Vancouver Sun, Monday, August 12, 2002
"Idiots from the crowd hosed them down with pepper spray" said Driemel. After being hit with the spray, Driemel said, they were out of commission for the night and had to be "taken away" to be decontaminated.
- Province, Sunday, August 11, 2002
One woman wrote a letter to the Vancouver Sun describing an incident on the SkyTrain.
"I am writing on behalf of myself and the 75 other people who were inadvertently, though very thoroughly, tear gassed in the SkyTrain Saturday night after the fireworks finale. As our very crowded train car pulled up to Stadium station, tear gas was sprayed on the platform by a police officer attempting to manage an incident. As the doors opened (and stayed open for close to five minutes) the train filled with the cough-inducing gas. The passengers, ranging from a boy about nine years old to the elderly, were not only trapped in an already mob-ridden train, but now also a gassed one..."
- Emily Kydd, Vancouver Sun, Tuesday, August 13, 2002
BCTV news commented on the events of the final night of the fireworks by saying that although the violence was predictable, "experts" say that it is almost impossible to avoid.
In our previous analysis we said that "This incident points to the always-present potential for class conflict at all large gatherings of people, particularly ones with an overwhelming and agitational police force. For insurrectionaries, this incident should illuminate other-than-traditional avenues for our own intervention and agitation."
Insurrectionary anarchists Alfredo Bonanno and Jean Weir commented in their work "From Riot To Insurrection" that the growth of sometimes irrational violence at large public events should not be ignored by the anarchist movement, and that anarchists should in fact seek to push these developments in the direction of conscious insurrection. We echo this position.
The tension caused by class contradictions and an alienating society can come to the foreground in unexpected ways. As anarchists and insurrectionaries our goal is always to identify the class enemy, to attack the institutions of the capitalist state, to build on social tension, and to move towards mass insurrection.
Insurrectionary Anarchists of the Coast Salish Territories (Vancouver)