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Man Arrested for Lighting Cigarette with the Torch

2010 Olympics

See video

Youtube link -





 Did that happen today?

 Did that happen today?

that guy needs a good lawyer

Has he been identified and has the media coop managed to get an interview with him? Someone needs to track that guy down and get the story.

Yes, indeed, the police are complete assholes for this one. It would have certainly been more appropriate if he was lighting a joint.

The cops are such fucking idiots. THAT was "excessive and disproportionate use of state forces" (sic)

They guy must get off and moreover the cops should be forced to apologies and pay reparations.

Somebody find that guy and feature him on the media coop website.


I think this took place in Gastown, Feburary 12.

Anyone with information as to who this person is, we'd love to know. vmc at mediacoop dot ca.


holy fire

wow, what a ridiculous arrest. what would he be charged with?

That is obviously right next to the steamclock on Water St BTW. Any webcams there might have caught more of it?

 From my perspective, the

 From my perspective, the steam clock was creating more of a spectacle in that moment than the guy with his cigarette. I had to re-watch the clip to see which person in the crowd lit the cigarette in the first place! In any case, that seems to be a very extreme response to something that I am certain would have gone largely un-noticed by most.

Nail the police

Yes, agree; find him; get the story written in a statement; find him a lawyer; go after the police!

Thinking allowed

It's nice to read a thoughful comment. Thank you!

If that's why he was

If that's why he was arrested, then it's definitely fucked up, but this is lacking all context. For all we know, he did something else moments previously that did warrant arrest. Maybe he was just out for a lark generally. Who knows?

No, he was not out on a lark,

No, he was not out on a lark, he seriously needed his cigarette lit and nobody in the crowd would give him a light because they were too busy applauding police repression, corporate posturing, police brutality, resource misappropriation, and the general ugliness of the olympics. If he were out for a lark, he deserved to be arrested, humiliated, aggressively and violently assaulted by police with guns and torturous methods of inflicting pain upon victims with the unobserved stealthness of pick-pocketers - and that's what the cops are doing to the public purse - fucking stealing money from important and positive public projects that help people. And they're doing it right out in the open, right under our noses, with smiling fucking faces while they stand around and do nothing at all but steal the money from the public purse. In a year's time, the city will wonder why the hell we had the olypmpics, when all the money runs out and is stolen. Wake up people.

the guy

this guy posted a comment on youtube saying that was him:

 oh my god, it is not that

 oh my god, it is not that serious. that dude is my friend and he just did it for a laugh, there is no `story` and he doesnt need a lawyer for fucks sakes. and he was trying to light a joint, not a cigarette.

give us a light


The way the first guy grabbed him. Was the first person even a police officer?

He surely would have got just a caution. I mean, what would the charge be?

