OLYMPIC
COUNTDOWN CLOCK UNVEILING MARRED BY PROTESTERS
Monday February 12th marked three years to the day of the official opening of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in British Columbia, hosted by Vancouver and Whistler. The public was invited for the unveiling of the countdown clock which was erected in Georgia Square outside the Vancouver Art Gallery. Over a thousand people showed up for the event.
Among the crowd was a group of about 60 noisy anti-homeless protesters whose aim was not to celebrate but to disrupt the event. They gathered to unveil their own version of the countdown clock, a “Countdown to Triple Homelessness”. Some came with faces covered in balaclavas or blackened with paint and used megaphones to broadcast their views. They chanted political slogans and shouted obscenities at the organizers and the crowd. They held up signs reading “Homes Not Games” and “Housing Before Games”. Some came armed with eggs that were filled with paint or had paper-mache balls filled with rocks, which they used to pelt the tented stage and the large TV screen.
While Rene Smith-Valade, Vancouver 2010 vice-president of communications started the official program two men rushed onto the stage. One of them, wearing a balaclava shoved Smith-Valade out of the way and then yelled and swore into the microphone. He was soon marched off the stage by security guards.
While Vancouver 2010 CEO John Furlong and Omega president Stephen Urquhart unveiled the official, six-metre high countdown clock made of metal, glass and wood the police rushed in to separate the protesters from the clock. While the dignitaries continued with the program police rounded up seven of the protestors and put them into the paddy wagon. Four people were subsequently charged with criminal offences as a result of the skirmish.
Premier Gordon Campbell and Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan who also took part in the ceremonies both expressed the opinion that while it is great that in Canada people are given the opportunity to express their opinions the protesters in this case abused that privilege.
The plight of the homeless is something the city of Vancouver will have to address. It is estimated that 1,500 people sleep on the city streets every night. By 2010 that number will probably triple as development displaces more of the seedy hotels and cleans up the sordid allies. Many of the homeless are there because of their dependency on drugs and given the choice between a proper job and accommodations or drugs and street life they will choose the latter.
Instead of using questionable tactics and playing up to the media the protesters, most who looked too well-fed and well-dressed to be living on the streets would be better spent working with VANOC and the city of Vancouver to address the housing situation in a constructive way. Stopping the Olympics is not the solution. A referendum and vote were held which clearly showed that the majority of the public wanted the Olympics.
Even though the countdown clock was unveiled amid controversy, within minutes of its unveiling it had already turned into a tourist destination. Tourists from afar were lining up to have their photos taken in front of the clock.
