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Disgusting Display In Montreal
by Paul on 04/22/08 at 06:34 AM ET
Comments (4)
from the Montreal Post,
No matter how hard they tried, members of the mob could not tip the vacant police car on its side. They dented its doors, shattered its windows and, with nothing left to break, they sought to set it aflame.
So just after midnight, more than two hours after the Montreal Canadiens claimed victory in their National Hockey League playoff series, a group of young men shoved cardboard boxes into the cruiser a few blocks from the arena. A crowd watched as flames engulfed the empty car.
About a half-dozen Montreal police cruisers were already burning, or about to be burned, as post-game celebrations dissolved into rioting early Tuesday morning.
added 7:29am, from Damien Cox of the Toronto Star at his Spin blog,
It was more a spasm of opportunistic vandalism than a hockey-related riot, yet it will leave an ugly mark on the city today.
From a sports point of view, no longer will Montrealers be able to mock Torontonians for the way in which they take to the streets with honking car horns after the Maple Leafs win a playoff round, if anyone in the GTA can actually remember back that far.
The Habs-Bruins series was a first rounder, yet the honking was there in the streets of Montreal, evidence, some would say, of the very different demographic that makes up the Montreal fan base these days.
added 8:52am, from Elliotte Friedman of the CBC at his From the Pressbox blog,
When we walked back to our hotel, it was obvious that crowd control was a potential problem. Traffic was at a crawl all around the building, while the sidewalks flooded with fans. But that’s no excuse for what happened.
As the cars burned, riot squads turned people away from St. Catharines Street. Several journalists and a couple of hockey people were told they simply could not get to their hotels. It would be better to go somewhere and wait.
more and some game talk too…
Filed in: NHL Teams, Montreal Canadiens, Hockey Related Stories | KK Hockey | Permalink
Comments
The fans only celebrate.
Then the non-fan “losers” see the opportunity to riot.
The fans have no part in the riot.
Posted by w2j2 on 04/22/08 at 06:55 AM ET
Detroit does something like this 20+ years ago and it tars the city forever. About a dozen cities ahve done the same thing in the interim, including Montreal, and no-one notices or remembers two weeks after the event.
Enh.
Posted by HockeyinHD on 04/22/08 at 08:17 AM ET
Unreal display last night… hope that we dont see anything like this again for the rest of the playoffs.
Posted by scandy on 04/22/08 at 09:26 AM ET
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What a shame to blemish a fantastic win by their team. I never understand any of these winning team riots.
Posted by penguinsfan on 04/22/08 at 06:07 AM ET