Olympic Protest

"sounds like the fall of Saigon outside right now. Choppers, sirens, jets, horns .."

With the Vancouver 2010 Olympics scheduled to start in a few days, and in light of recent comments made by Vancouver photographer and old friend, Johann Wall, I revisited some images I made during a Olympic Torch Relay protest held in Centennial Square in Victoria in Oct 2009.

There was a lot of hype regarding the Victoria protest with calls going out for support to mark the arrival of the the torch from Greece.  Buses were chartered, undercover officers deployed, and in general there prevailed an atmosphere excitement but also a worried anticipation of what might happen.  What would these Canadians actually do? 

"What could they do?" asks a security consultant.  

"Position a sniper team just in case," replies the client.  "What's next."

What actually happened was that a few hundred people assembled, milled about, listened to speeches and pronouncements, watched the antics of a recycling sorting contest, and took pictures of one another.   Indeed, opposition to the Olympic Games was registered by a diverse community of activists, disenfranchised youth and seniors, native groups, special interest specialists, inventors, musicians, hangers-on, and of course, photographers.