Outraged Vancouverites turn to Facebook, Twitter to vent & help I.D. rioters
Posted June 16, 2011 1:37 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
People in Vancouver and across the country turned to social media to post images of hooligans responsible for rioting after the Canucks’ Stanley Cup loss, express their outrage and to organize cleanup efforts.
Facebook groups and blogs have been started, encouraging people to share pictures and videos of the disturbing scene in downtown Vancouver Wednesday night when chaos erupted on the streets forcing police to don riot gear and disperse tear gas to control the crowds.
One Facebook group called “Vancouver Riot Pics: Post Your Photos” called on people to post their pictures to help identify those who overturned cars, set fires and looted stores.
“Lets post those pictures and put a label on the losers that made this city look so bad, ruined my neighborhood, and acted with out any class what so ever,” the group’s info page reads. “We know you just took the photo’s [sic], so post em, and let them speak a thousand words.”
A Tumblr page called “Vancouver Riot Criminal List” issued a similar call.
“Lets [sic] hold people accountable for their actions!” a post began. “All right everyone, lets start posting pictures of the idiots setting fires and looting. Let’s get identifying these criminals.”
And a Facebook group popped up Thursday morning encouraging people to volunteer in the cleanup effort over the next several days.
“Once the embarrassing rioting has ended in Vancouver let’s all show the world what Vancouver is really about by helping rebuild and clean up so it is better than it was before,” the group’s page reads.
“If any city can bounce back from an embarrassment like this it is Vancouver!”
As of Thursday afternoon, more than 15,000 people said they’d help. Whether they’ll show up remains to be seen.
There’s also been a tremendous reaction to the events in Vancouver on Twitter. Here’s a sample of what CityNews viewers had to say:
leerouthier
@CityNews not impressed at all certianly doesn’t put canada in a good lite people need to grow up
twpittered
@CityNews I am a Vancouver fan and I am sad about how people have acted in their own streets. Shameful. No respect for your own city!
jcitravel
@CityNews Riots are pathetic, it took away from the great effort of Vancouver Canucks
Pocket_ACCes
@CityNews. I worry. If they can riot in Vancouver, would they do that here in #Toronto if the @MapleLeafs suffered the same fate?
With files from the Canadian Press.
