ALL GIRLS HOCKEY

Central Library, children's section.

I came here after seeing a car burning out in front of the post office and the Bank of Montreal being smashed in. Some drunk clown in a hoodie was parading this barrier around like a flag pole. He was pointed out to the police but they didn't move until the glass was smashed. He was tackled and the group of 5 officers was mobbed: I'd say about quarter of the people were trying to get at the hoodlum, another quarter were pissed at the cop who tackled him, and half were there to record the action. Then people started throwing things: a water bottle to start, then a beer bottle, then food. Then a steel "A"-frame hit a young girl and bloodied her skull badly, her crying friends were having trouble getting her out of the crowd and the still-surrounded police were focused on keeping themselves from getting overwhelmed and were unable to help.

The throwing stopped and the throng began to disperse around the officers, then a bomb went off on the other side of the square, might have been a trashcan. The officers made a speedy departure. Not long after the riot police started pushing people down the street and out of the square. A flashbang was used to clear a group trying to break into the liquor store. People posed in front of a squat riot cop with an intimidating grenade launcher.

I left that area and headed back to Granville where it initially seemed to be a much different scene. There was a flash-mob / decentralized dance party set up by the art gallery, a plume of smoke still rising from the post office set a surreal backdrop. Heading south, all the bars were still packed and the TVs were playing live footage taken by the circling helicopters. There didn't seem to be anything different about this game night on Granville than the previous weeks'. Then teargas was released around Smithe and the crowd surged back towards me. This was really the only time I felt I was in a dangerous situation.

I decided to keep heading towards the gas and cut around it to get through my street. Partly I didn't want to go through the crowd I just came through, but I also wanted to know what it was like. Idiotic, yep, and indicative of the mindset of probably 98% of the people out on the streets: we just wanted to experience it, to say we'd been there. It was unpleasant. I was teary. I couldn't tell why it'd been fired off, but I guess that just means it fulfilled its purpose as a dispersant.

By this time my camera was out of batteries, unfortunate because a clip of the paddy wagon shaking from the inside as cops with gas masks march past the flipped cars towards the smoke would have been a good shot. Shallow?

My estimate of spectators to instigators is 1000:1. Less fists raised to the sky than camera phones.

As i have previously stated, this particular tournament (the U15s) had so many teams enter that it necessitated the tournament directors to erect a 5th volleyball court (or a 3rd in the hockey rink area). This made the courts VERY crowded. Not only was it a burden on me (to get the good images i was hired to shoot), but it made things EXTREMELY difficult for the girls. Constantly they had to do plays over because the ball from an adjacent court would go on theirs, the coach and gals on the "bench" were squeezed between courts and had to constantly duck out of the way of athletes and balls on other courts (or their own), and there wasn't much spectator space for the parents to watch the game. But, i know everyone did what they could and struggled to manage.

According to my contract with Bob Buchanan (the Liberty Belle club director/president), i struggled to get as many shots of the "home team" (the Belles) as possible, but they were on one of the hockey rink courts, so it was difficult. Also, the lighting in the rink is VERY uneven, and colour tones are horrendous with the light blue floor, the yellowed lights, and the off-white colour of the girls' skin tone. I just hope the shots are satisfactory-i had to do more work on these images than the other Liberty Belle tournament shots I've processed so far!