Should stores brace for violence during Occupy Vancouver?
Posted Oct 14, 2011 12:44:44 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Hundreds, possibly thousands of people are expected to gather in front of the Vancouver Art Gallery tomorrow for the Occupy Vancouver protest. News1130 is finding out from a local security expert if shop owners and people downtown should be prepared for violence.
Rally organizers have said all along that it’ll be a peaceful protest, but with the Stanley Cup Riot still on people’s minds, some people aren’t so sure.
Leo Knight with Paladin Security says it’s the ‘professional protesters’ that police will have to keep an eye on. “Anything has the potential to get out of hand, but in this particular case I think you’re going to see a lot of the same actors that were involved in the Stanley Cup Riot… [those who] triggered it will be involved… Members of the Anti-Poverty Coalition… it’s all the usual faces.”
However, Knight says because it’s a daytime event, alcohol likely won’t play a factor tomorrow, like it did during the hockey riot in June.
He says police aren’t going to tolerate rowdies getting violent. “Zero tolerance is a hard thing to define. I think the VPD will be much more ‘on edge.’ They’ll be more ready for the triggers of trying to incite anything. I think they’ll be much more responsive than they were able to be on June 15th… perhaps as early as they could have been.
Some shop owners downtown have hired extra security, just in case things get out of hand.
