Opening day protest/parade in Vancouver
Posted on 15 Feb 2010 by Justin Ruckman
This post is part of our ongoing coverage of the Vancouver 2010 Olympics.
We split up into three groups today, and still none of us ran into any riots. I guess we’re not waking up early enough, or hanging out with the right/wrong people.
It’s a little beyond me how a group of people protesting excessive spending would demonstrate their belief by causing yet more excessive spending: flipping dumpsters, spray painting cars, smashing windows, destroying newspaper boxes, etc. That’s not protest; it’s just a scene, almost recreation. We should turn protest into an Olympic sport and watch the hippies’ heads explode in a burst of recyclical irony. Just kidding, I love hippies.
Contrast these scattered violent protests with the peaceful and self-organized one we witnessed on opening day. Now these are people I can get behind (literally).
Is it just us outsiders that feel skeptical about the whole protest routine here in Vancouver? Usually I’m all for stuff like this, especially in Charlotte.