News Clippings on Feb. 12, 2007, Anti-Olympics Protest
News Clippings on Feb. 12, 2007, Anti-Olympics Protest
News Clippings from the corporate media on the Feb. 12 Anti-Olympic Protest/Direct Action in Vancouver, Canada
The print media said nothing about the presence of Natives among the
protesters. Despite this, it’s still entertaining to read…
Protesters disrupt Vancouver Olympics celebration
CBC News Monday, Feb. 12, 2007
Protesters hurling eggs, rocks and profanity-laced insults disrupted what was supposed to be a celebration of the opening ceremony of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics on Monday.
A crowd of about 60 anti-poverty activists
descended on a celebration outside the Vancouver Art Gallery, where a crowd of several hundred people were watching dignitaries and political leaders unveil a countdown clock that is ticking down the seconds until the Games begin in exactly three years from now.
Dozens of police, some on horseback and wearing riot gear, arrested seven people. One officer dragged a protester off the stage, another tackled a woman with a bandana across her face.
Insp. Steve Schnitzer said police anticipated a protest, but nothing of this scale. He said police will keep the disruption in mind when planning for the next pre-Olympic event.
“We have lots of interactions with this group and this is probably the most violent that we’ve seen it happen,” he said, calling the demonstrators “hooligans.”
“They pushed by police officers, they pushed by citizens that were there to have a good time, they pushed over fencing, they jumped fencing and then they pushed the master of ceremonies to get to the podium.”
He said the protesters, who are believed to be with the group the Anti-Poverty Committee, threw eggs, paint-filled balloons and rocks wrapped in papier mache.
They shouted obscenities & booed Premier Gordon Campbell as he addressed the crowd.
City needs to focus on needy: protesters
Some members of the group unveiled their own doomsday-style clock at the event, which concludes that by 2010, 6,000 people will be homeless in Vancouver. The protesters said the city must focus on finding affordable housing for the poor. “You can see that the numbers are starting to get
bigger, and that’s because we’re losing the housing in the downtown eastside, to Olympic speculation and gentrification,” said anti-poverty activist Wendy Peterson.
The Vancouver Olympic Committee (VANOC) did not acknowledge the protest as it unveiled its countdown clock, which is made of cedar, glass and stainless steel and stands six meters tall and three meters wide.
The timepiece was inspired by the shapes of the Ilanaaq—the emblem of the Games, and Vancouver’s natural and urban landscape.
Two electronic clocks are on the face of the sculpture—one clock marks the countdown to the start of the Winter Games and the other displays the countdown to the Paralympic Games.
“With only 36 months to go until Games time, it serves as a compelling, constant reminder of how close we are to welcoming the world to Vancouver, Whistler and Canada in 2010,” said John Furlong, the head of VANOC.
The premier attended the event, along with Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan and David Emerson, the federal minister in charge of the Olympics. Olympic silver medallist Jeff Pain and Paralympic champion Lauren Woolstencroft also
took part.
“This clock that we unveiled today will not only remind us of the years and months and weeks until we actually light that torch but it will remind us of how intense the competition really is,” the premier said.
The Olympics will last 17 days. Events will be held in Vancouver and about 120 kilometers north, in Whistler. The Paralympic Games begin on March 21, 2010…
Olympic clock ticks off protesters,
Globe & Mail, Feb. 13, 2007
By Rod Mickleburgh, Vancouver
Vancouver put its first significant public stamp on the coming 2010 Winter Olympics yesterday, unveiling—with three years to go—a large, expensive digital clock in the heart of the city to count down the days & seconds to
the Games’ opening ceremony.
At the same time, however, Olympic organizers received a raucous reminder that Vancouver is an edgy city with a long-standing reputation for not-always-polite political protest.
Moments after event emcee Renee Valade-Smith began speaking, a hooded protester, his face covered with a bandana, burst on stage and grabbed the microphone from her hands. He yelled profanities about the 2010 “cardboard
circus” [corporate circus] before startled police officers were able to wrestle him away and place him under arrest.
Another protester who stormed the stage at the same time was also taken away by police.
Shortly afterward, scuffles broke out on the fringe of the large, predominantly boosterish crowd, as police moved to arrest several more [people] who were tossing paint balloons and other objects.
A total of seven protesters were taken into custody. At a press conference, police showed reporters papier-mache globes filled with rocks [rattles], plus balloons and eggs containing paint they said were thrown at them during the protest.
Inspector Steve Schnitzer, in charge of policing the event, said they did not expect the protesters to use weapons [sic].
“I don’t even want to refer to them as protesters. It’s a criminal act by a bunch of hooligans,” he said.
Although vastly outnumbered by hundreds of pro-Olympic spectators massed in the public plaza behind the city’s art gallery, at least 20 other demonstrators kept up a din of anti-Games chants throughout the 30-minute noontime ceremony, headlined by Premier Gordon Campbell and federal International Trade Minister David Emerson.
They charged, loudly, that money used to fund the Olympics should be channeled instead to social housing and helping the homeless. ‘Homes not Games!” they shouted.
Afterwards, John Furlong, president of the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee, professed to be unruffled by the ruckus…
The Olympic countdown clock, six meters high and weighing a massive 1,170 kilograms, was donated to the city by the Game’s official timekeeper, Omega…
However, given the record of civil disobedience demonstrated by some of the Games opponents, some wondered how long the artistically designed clock,
complete with a tall, adjoining cedar stand, will remain open to public view without attracting hostile graffiti… [good point]
Until yesterday’s protest, the 2010 Games had attracted little public hostility, with opinion polls showing a large majority of the public supportive…
Countdown clock ticks off protesters
The Province, Feb. 13, 2007
By Damian Inwood
A celebration of the three-year countdown to the 2010 Games turned into an ugly skirmish yesterday as police wrestled seven protesters into paddy wagons.
Olympic organizers said they will continue to “debrief” today to work out how a masked protester managed to storm the stage and shout epithets into the microphone during the official ceremonies.
“The whole team will meet and we’ll start talking this afternoon and evaluate it and see… how we can do it a bit better,” said Vancouver 2010 CEO John Furlong.
About 60 protesters gathered on the east lawn of the Vancouver Art Gallery to unveil a “Countdown to Triple Homelessness clock” as an alternative to the six-meter tall Omega countdown clock.
As protesters, some in balaclavas or with faces blackened by paint, used loud hailers to broadcast their views, a phalanx of police in yellow vests waded into the crowd to set up a barrier between the official Olympic clock & activists.
Two men ran onto the stage as Renee Smith-Valade, Vancouver 2010 vice-president of communications, started the official program.
She was shoved out of the way by a man with a bandana over his face. He yelled and swore into the microphone for several seconds before security guards frog-marched him off stage.
Jeff Veniot, a tourism worker who was close to the stage, said security officers weren’t prepared.
“It was a bit scary,” said Veniot. “I didn’t see this guy coming at all. All of a sudden [Smith-Valade] was pushed out of the way and he was yelling and swearing.
“I thought, “Where the heck are the security?” After that all the officers were lined up.”
About 10 uniformed police officers formed a line in front of the protesters and a skirmish broke out. On the ground lay empty egg cartons, the eggs having rained down on a jumbo
TV screen and the tented stage.
As Furlong told a crowd of about 1,000, “It’s a terrific day, a great milestone,” the protesters pushed and shoved police chanting “Homes not Games!”
Insp. Steve Schnitzer said “police intelligence” indicated there would be no violence at the ceremony.
“People have the right to protest,” said Schnitzer. “Legitimate protesters do not wear balaclavas and masks. They do not bring eggs that are filled with paint. They do not bring papier-mache balls filled with rocks.”
Schnitzer, who was in charge of security, said police deliberately did not have a large presence. “We made a decision at the outset not to create a mini-police state around the stage,” he said.
He estimated about 10 of the 60 protesters were wearing masks or balaclavas. He said seven people were arrested, and police will recommend one charge of obstructing an officer, and two or three charges of mischief.
Chris Shaw, spokesman for 2010 Watch, said the protest is “a big black eye for 2010.”…
Let the Games begin, indeed
Olympic protesters briefly steal the podium in a race against the clock
Vancouver Sun, Feb. 13, 2007
By Cam Cole, Columnist
The friendlies had all the best standing spots in front of the stage, equipped with inflatable thundersticks in good old Canadian red, poised to clap them together at the slightest urging from the flawlessly prepared emcee, Renee-Smith Valade of the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee
(Vanoc).
The unfriendlies were gathered mostly on the outskirts of the crowd, on the Howe street side of the Vancouver Art Gallery, chanting “Homes not Games!”… and waving their protest signs, trying to position themselves between the
stage and the TV cameras. Because, let’s face it, if your act doesn’t make the evening news, you’ve failed…
And now they can safely tick “timing” off their to-do list, the next item they need to look at is “security.”
We surround the word with quote marks because another lesson the organizers will have learned Monday (although these things are always clear in hindsight) is that when you have a whole bunch of people who advertised in advance an intention to protest an event, and a passel of politicians and
other bigwigs on stage—including a not-universally beloved premier and a federal cabinet minister who changed parties after the election—the crack security force should probably keep an eye out for scruffy-looking people lurking near the stage, wearing bandanas and not clapping their thundersticks.
Not that there’s any law against looking scruffy, or wearing a bandana, either. But when the bandana is covering the lower half of the face, most Crimebusters Manuals agree that the wearer is either about to cream-pie a politician or hold up a 7-Eleven.
In this case, poor Smith-Valade had barely warmed up her tonsils with “It’s an exciting day for all of us” when one of two protesters leaped on stage, grabbed the microphone, and yelled something that sounded like “4Q-2010!”
Security officials believe it may be some sort of protester code. They’re looking into it…
Calgary’s Jeff Pain, the 2006 Olympic silver medallist in skeleton, was in mid-speech on behalf of Canada’s Olympians when the protester’s chanting hit its zenith, but he plowed on, and got a huge cheer when he concluded: “I’ll
see you on the podium in three years!”
Three years out. It seems like a long time, said Omega president Stephen Urquhart, “but check your watch: believe me, three years goes by very quickly.”
“The eyes of the world will be on our city,” said Mayor Sam Sullivan, “on our Olympics…”
And on our offended people…
Cops clean clocks at countdown
24 Hours, Feb. 13, 2007
Let the protests begin.
Yesterday’s Vancouver Art Gallery ceremony to unveil the 2010 Winter Olympics countdown clock began late because protesters scuffled with Vancouver police officers.
‘Whether it’s homelessness, further cuts to social programming because they need money for stupid bullshit events like this, or encroaching even more on
Indigenous territory, these are the real effects of the Olympics,” said Jill Chettiar, who was among 100 anti-Olympics protesters in a noon-hour crowd of more than 1000.
Despite dozens of uniformed and undercover police, a masked man as well as veteran protester David Cunningham, Chettiar’s partner, accessed the stage.
The masked protester grabbed host Renee Smith-Valade’s microphone and shouted “f--- 2010” while Cunningham chanted “Homes not Games.” Police dragged them off stage. As many as eight were arrested.
Tempers flared earlier when police removed a protest banner suspended by helium balloons. Const. Howard Chow said some protesters threw paint-filled balloons and papier-mache wrapped rocks.
Protesters shouted during ‘O Canada’ and jeered VANOC executives, politicians and Four Host First Nations
executive director Tewanee Joseph. Others erected their own clock counting down to a predicted homeless population of 6,000 Vancouverites by 2010…
Police to change tactics following Olympic protest
The Province, Feb. 14, 2007
By Jack Keating
Vancouver police said they will change their tactics to ensure there is no repeat of Monday’s disruption of future Olympic events.
“There’s a difference between protesting and committing criminal acts,” Const. Tim Fanning said yesterday. “We certainly learned something from [Monday’s protest].
“We will be changing things. It’s very safe to say that we will be changing our approach.”
Four people were charged with criminal offences yesterday in connection with Monday’s skirmish at the unveiling of the 2010 Olympic clock outside the Vancouver Art Gallery.
The Pivot Legal Society said it’s important that the police do not overreact to protests. “I think it’s really important that people who are protesting be given an opportunity & space to be seen and to be heard,” said Pivot lawyer David Eby, who is representing the four.
Megan Craig, 20, of Vancouver was charged with assaulting a police officer. Fanning said she kicked the officer in the “groin area.”
David Cunningham, 28, Gordon Hill, 38, and Lynette Tooley, 35, all of Vancouver, were charged with mischief and causing a disturbance…
Fanning said most of the protester’s weren’t violent.
“We don’t consider these people [who were charged] activists or protesters,” he said. “We consider them people committing criminal acts.”
The anti-homelessness protesters held signs reading “Homes not Games” and “Housing Before Games” while chanting political slogans and yelling epithets at organizers and police…
An estimated 1,500 people sleep on city streets every night, and the number of homeless is expected to triple by the 2010 Olympics.
Police to beef up Olympic security
Protest prompts revised strategy for events related to the 2010 Games
Globe & Mail, Feb. 14, 2007
By Petti Fong
Vancouver police say they are going to take a more hard-line approach when it comes to security at Olympic announcements after protesters rushed past officers and stormed the podium at an event this week.
“We will be changing things,” Constable Tim Fanning said yesterday. “We can’t give defined points, but we will be changing our approach. We expect protesters, we expect activists, but these are criminals committing criminal
acts.”
Four of the protesters were charged yesterday, one day after about 60 activists disrupted an event at the Vancouver Art Gallery to unveil an Olympic clock to count down the three years until the 2010 Games.
Police seized papier mache hollowed out globes with rocks and paint-filled balloons. The officers faced some criticism for not stopping the activists from reaching the stage.
On the podium when one of the protesters reached the stage, the event emcee, Renee Smith-Valade of the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee
(VANOC), looked startled at the sudden confrontation. “Where are the police?” she wondered out loud as another staff member hustled the activist off…
Mary Fraser, a spokeswoman for VANOC, said yesterday that Olympic organizers will not comment on the incident and referred questions to the Vancouver police.
The incident commander of the event at the Vancouver Art gallery, Inspector Steve Schnitzer, said the protesters pushed by police and audience members and jumped fencing to reach the stage where they grabbed at the podium.
While police knew the protesters would be at the event, Insp. Schnitzer said, officers had no prior information that violence would erupt.
The sudden charging to the stage was unexpected and even though the protesters… are well-known to police, Insp. Schnitzer said there has never been this level of violence before…
“We have a long tradition of accommodating protesters at events. We regularly enter into dialogue with demonstrators to find out exactly what they want to do and we even go to lengths of telling them where they can stand to get media attention,” Insp. Schnitzer said. “This group is very well known to police. They never tell us their plans. They’re very
anti-police and they have no regard for public safety” [referring to Anti-Poverty Committee].
While police don’t want to “over-police” these Olympic events, he said, hindsight shows that the department should have planned to have more officers providing security.
“We don’t want these things to look like they’re completely overrun by police officers and I’m sure the event organizers don’t want that either,” Insp. Schnitzer said. “Do they want to see police shoulder-to-shoulder in front of the Olympic stage?”
While Vancouver police provide security at events promoting the Olympics, the RCMP will be the main force monitoring the Olympic Games.
But Monday’s event highlights the need for more police officers doing patrols, a senior Vancouver police officer said yesterday.
Sergeant Adam Palmer was in front of city council yesterday, asking for funding for 65 new officers for uniformed patrol. “Our officers are stretched too thin at certain times; we have to prioritize,” he said.
About one-third of the 1,400 member force are on street patrol, Sgt. Palmer said.
Editorial
Anti-Olympics hooligans have done nothing to help the homeless
Vancouver Sun Editorial,
Feb. 14, 2007
Peaceful protest plays a vital role in a democratic society and citizens have a right to freely express their views in public. But this right is not absolute. It is abrogated when it infringes on the rights of others.
The thugs who disrupted the ceremony to unveil the countdown clock at the 2010 Olympic Games crossed that line [Monday] and not only forfeited their right to protest, but brought shame upon the Anti-Poverty Committee they
purported to represent [sic].
Some in the crowd of 60 protesters hurled eggs, paint-filled balloons and rocks concealed by paper mache at the dignitaries on stage, at police and into the crowd; and two people reached the stage, assaulted emcee Renee
Smith-Valade of the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee and shouted profanities into the microphone. These are criminal acts of hooliganism, not legitimate protest for a cause.
As it happens, the cause in question hardly needs this motley mob of malcontents to raise its profile.
Homelessness already is a top priority for citizens of the Lower Mainland, according to the polls, and politicians are falling over themselves to be seen doing something about it…
Politicians and bureaucrats are well aware of the compelling social and economic case for increasing the supply of housing for marginalized communities. The cost of a single homeless person (in services such as hospital, ambulance, emergency shelters & police) has been estimated at
$40,000 a year. In a report last year, the Pivot Legal Society calculated that it costs between $22,000 and $28,000 per person to build social housing. As they say, do the math.
Homelessness, mental illness, drug addiction and poverty are second only to climate change on the political agenda. Hundreds of millions of taxpayers dollars will be earmarked for social housing and other programs for the
disenfranchised in advance of the Olympics. Don’t think for a moment that any level of government wants the world to see Vancouver at its worst.
Homelessness, therefore, is already on the to-do list. We don’t need to hear any more from the violent, rock-throwing, profanity-spewing goons...
Letters to the Editor
Positively funeral
A piece of art? My gawd, the Olympic clock looks like a tombstone. The only thing missing is R.I.P. on its face. It must have been designed by a committee of morticians.
Robert Morningstar,
Vancouver
The Province, Feb. 14, 2007
Olympic protest an embarrassment to us all
After watching the performance of protesters at the unveiling of the Olympic clock, I’m both embarrassed and disappointed. Their performance on a world stage was a civic embarrassment for us all. It’s not a coincidence that you always see the same faces at all these events.
Rushing the stage was definitely over the line and shows what happens when you put that many publicity hounds in close proximity to the media, there to cover the event.
These poor misguided souls couldn’t help themselves…
Daniel Lockwood,
Burnaby
The Province, Feb. 14, 2007
Get a job
If these protesters have enough energy to don balaclavas, broadcast their views, run onto stages, shove people, yell and swear, then they should have enough energy to get jobs and work hard to eliminate poverty and contribute
practically to the homeless. But this requires energy, integrity and intelligence.
Cherryl Katnich,
Maple Ridge
The Province, Feb. 14, 2007
Olympic protesters gain nothing by their actions
“F#@& 2010!”
Sure you can burst through security, steal the Olympic spotlight while the crowd is watching and shout profanity into the microphone. But is that advancing your agenda in any way? Does your protest help to create a solution?
Without doubt, homelessness, environmental impacts and native land concerns are important issues directly affect by 2010 Olympics. But is chanting over the words of Vanoc CEO John Furlong really going to make a difference?
I stand in the field before the Art Gallery and I can hear representatives on stage blaring words of inspiration & success. Shouting. Shouting. Shouting. On the other side of me are people chanting “Homes not Games!” Shouting. Shouting. Shouting…
It is only through listening and collaboration that we can make any real progress. The Olympics are coming, whether we like it or not, and we must join together to leverage the opportunities… We can’t keep shouting over top of one another. There are many things that can be done and dialogue is the first step in getting there.
Josa Vink,
Burnaby
Vancouver Sun, Feb. 14, 2007
I would not worry about the protest against the excesses of the Olympic Games. I lived in Australia prior to the Sydney Summer Games in 2000. Many people hated the idea of the Games and the feeling that taxpayers would have to cover the costs until the magic happened in communities across
the country—the Olympic torch run. This made it real and brought excitement to the country.
The world-class opening ceremony was the icing on the Olympic cake for many Aussies. Let’s hope Canada wins as many gold medals in 2010 as Australians did at their Games.
Ed Bernacki
Ottawa
Vancouver Sun, Feb. 14, 2007
Forget the countdown, we need an Olympic count-up
So Vanoc is able to spend cash on, of all things, a countdown clock. I would suggest it go for a companion piece: A thermometer. This could have graduations starting from the original, imaginary cost of this massive mistake. Of course, it must be constructed with no height
limitations, so it can illustrate the actual cost of these 16-day “festivities.”
TR Murphy,
Richmond
Vancouver Sun, Feb. 14, 2007
People don’t want to see the face of poverty
Re: Let the Games begin, indeed, Cam Cole, Feb. 13
Cam Cole’s coverage of the unveiling of the Olympic clock was disgusting. He exemplifies why we aren’t able to achieve both “homes and Games.” People would rather enjoy festivities than look at the face of poverty.
He dismissed the protesters as “scruffy-looking people” who couldn’t gather up more than a few voices for their cause. Perhaps Cole should consider the fact that most of the supporters of the homes-not-Games protest are not
upper-class citizens who can enjoy the luxury of a work-free afternoon. Although I was stuck in an office building while protesters waved their signs, I fully support their message.
Vancouver is in the midst of a housing crisis, yet we are pouring money into an unsustainable and incredibly expensive event that fast-tracks the closure of many low-income buildings used as homes. And, as with many
Olympic-host cities in the past, we will be left in debt after the circus has come and gone. Homes not Games, indeed.
Alyssa Noel,
Vancouver
Vancouver Sun, Feb. 15, 2007
Like to work with one eye on the clock? This job’s for you!
Olympic Ticker: Security could cost $262,000
The Province, Feb. 21, 2007
By Kent Spencer
Time is money—especially when it comes to the Olympic clock. The clock, on the lawn of the Vancouver Art Gallery, was unveiled last week to start the three-year-countdown to the 2010 Games. Noisy protesters tried to disrupt the ceremonies. And now it’s watched over, 24 hours a day, by security guards.
Murray Dodge of Premier Security was on duty yesterday, chalking up $10 per hour—plus benefits and a big yellow jacket. If he and his co-workers are kept on guard until the Games start, that would amount to a whopping
$262,000 in wages alone…
The six-metre-high clock is protected by a covering of hard, clear plastic…
“Having someone guard the clock for the next three years seems like a waste of money,” said [Steve] Thackray, a Vancouver actor and Olympic supporter. He said VANOC should have anticipated acts of vandalism…
The Province asked the Olympic Committee who was paying the bills, how long security would be in place and whether a vandalism-resistant site, such as a protective enclosure, had been considered.
“There has been an overwhelmingly positive response to the Omega Countdown clock, so it’s hard to imagine anyone wanting to do anything but enjoy it. We can confirm that the clock is secure, and that understandably it could
compromise its security if we were to share the details,” said Vanoc’s Renee Smith-Valade in a written statement.
Security tight at curling venue
Protesters dog Emerson as officials keep dignitaries, public separate
Vancouver Sun, Feb. 24, 2007
By Jeff Lee
Olympic organizers used a sharp increase in visible security and double lines of steel fencing Friday to keep protesters at bay when construction of the last Olympic sports facility, the $49-million Hillcrest Curling Venue, began Friday [Feb. 23].
With the violent protest at their last public event two weeks ago fresh in their minds, the Vancouver Organizing Committee insisted dignitaries and media be separated from the public at the ground-breaking ceremony at Nat Bailey Stadium Park …
Between the fencing stood park board security & private security guards hired by Vancouver, which organized the event for Vanoc. Behind them, and interspersed with the small crowd were uniformed police officers.
For good measure, at least 10 casually-dressed detectives hovered around several politicians, including Premier Gordon Campbell and federal International Trade Minister David Emerson.
It is all the outcome of a serious breach of security that occurred at the last Vanoc shindig, the unveiling of the countdown clock in downtown Vancouver.
Protesters also showed up for Friday’s ground-breaking ceremony, but they weren’t the anti-Olympic protesters who rushed the stage on Feb. 12, knocking a Vanoc official out of the way. Instead, they were people Emerson was more familiar with, long-disgruntled voters in his Vancouver-Kingsway riding.
Shouting “run, Emerson, run” and “fair play”, the dozen or so people reminded Emerson that his decision to jump to the Conservatives immediately after the federal election has not sat well with some, and they want him to
un for re-election so that they can democratically vote against him. One carried a giant yellow placard with a picture of a rooster that read “Too Chicken to Run.”…
Originally scheduled to cost $28.25 million, the curling venue has escalated into a colossal taxpayer funded development… Vanoc revised its cost estimate for the Olympic venue to $49.15 million, of which it will
contribute $38 million through joint federal and provincial funding. The rest comes from city taxpayers, who will assume the risk of cost overruns in converting the facility to the final public uses after the Games leave town in March, 2010…
Asked later if he was tired of the protesters who constantly follow and heckle him, Emerson said: “I got tired of it the day after it got started. But I’ve become accustomed to it. These people have a right to express themselves. I don’t begrudge that, but it is a part of public life I never quite expected.”