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Video: Vancouver "Riot Kiss" Wasn't Staged, Wasn't A Kiss
By
John Del Signore
Published Jun 17, 2011
Modified Jun 17, 2011
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By
John Del Signore
Published Jun 17, 2011
Modified Jun 17, 2011
Share
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Sorry to disillusion all the hopeless riot romantics out there, but that phenomenal Vancouver "riot kiss" photo doesn't appear to be as sexy as it seems. It's not really sexy at all in fact—though many have speculated that the "kiss" was staged for the cameras, it looks like there's a much simpler explanation for all this. According to witnesses, what you're seeing here is actually the aftermath of a bad fall. And if you look at the photos in that context, it appears that the young man in the photo is trying to help the woman, not make out on the street before riot police could put up the cockblock.
A witness tells The Vancouver Sun, "The girl who was knocked over landed head first on the pavement with her boyfriend landed partially on top of her. She was in visible pain, crying, but the two officers gave them a parting shove and moved on. Bystanders went to make sure she was OK." And student photographer Emily Nicole Edgar, who was trapped on a roof above the location, captured this video from before the "kiss." She says, "It's not the clearest footage but I think it shows that they are not kissing, and that she is injured. It also shows the boy, who she may or may not have known, trying to protect her from the riot squad... I would like to clear up the situation so that the jokes at this poor girls expense can end."
The young man in the photo has been identified as Scott Jones, an Australian who's been living in Vancouver for the past six months. Fishbowl Perth says his Canadian girlfriend, seen in the now famous photo, is one Alexandra Thomas. Jones's mother confirmed that is her son in the photo, and she wouldn't have been surprised if his son was getting it on in the middle of a riot. "It is something he would do — that's our boy," she told Fishbowl Perth. "He has always lived in his own world. He's special like that. He doesn't always connect with what [is] going on around him. I knew it was him because he doesn't have a lot of clothes with him, and he always puts on the same thing."
The photojournalist who got the shots, Rich Lam, insists there was still a kiss. In an interview with PopPhoto.com, he says, "My first instinct was that she was run over by the riot squad and that she was hurt... You know, there's this huge crowd on the street and in a flash of 20 seconds, it's bare. That's what they do. If you can't run, you get knocked down and then they come back and clean things up. And here are two people in the middle of the street waiting to get cleaned up. I framed it with one of the officers to really emphasize the juxtaposition... I've been reading online stories, too. She got run over. She was hurt and he was comforting her. And at that moment, a kiss was part of it."
Tagged
riot couple
riot kiss
vancouver riots
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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