Celebration of Light 2013: Well behaved crowd for opening night
Saturday night marked the first night of the Honda Celebration of Light 2013 Fireworks. An estimated crowd of 250,000 to 300,000 surrounded the Vancouver core to take in the UK’s James Bond-themed spectacle, less than the estimated 400,000. People were generally good-natured and well behaved, according to Vancouver PD.
That statement above should serve as a reminder to anyone that likes to use the 2011 riot as a crutch to eliminate the possibility of any large scale public event in Vancouver. Too much of that sort of fear mongering goes on in this city and it goes right up the ranks to City Hall.
Liquor enforcement and interdiction continued to be a focus for all police agencies involved in the event. Officers had a very visible presence at SkyTrain stations in Surrey, Burnaby, Richmond, New Westminster, Vancouver, and throughout the downtown core, which resulted in hundreds of liquor pour-outs.
There were a few alcohol-related disturbances throughout the evening and as crowds cleared out of the downtown core following the event, but no incidents of note.
- 612 liquor pour outs
- 35 liquor seizures
- 8 weapon seizures (no specifics on what weapons)
- 135 violation tickets issued
- 18 by-law tickets
- 9 arrests for intoxication in public
- 7 breach of the peace arrests
- 6 other arrests
The second fireworks night takes place on Wednesday, July 31 with Canada taking the barge.
Videos of Saturday’s fireworks
[youtube id=”Vhpioe2Jcek” align=”center”]
Video: Chris Tataryn
Video: Claude Schneider
Image: Thomas Bullock
Follow Channels and Categories