EDMONTON Business owners along a trendy Edmonton bar strip were sweeping up glass and shaking their heads Monday after Canada Day celebrations degenerated into a drunken riot.
“Everybody got wasted for Canada Day and the celebrations turned ugly,” said one young man on the scene.
Hundreds of young people broke windows and vandalized property along Whyte Avenue early Monday. Concern has been growing about the sometimes rowdy crowds along the popular strip of bars and boutiques.
The avenue’s sidewalks are always full on weekend nights, but the crowds were even larger than usual because of Canada Day fireworks staged a few blocks away over the river valley.
The trouble began around 2 a.m. as bar patrons spilled out onto the street to watch a fight. When police responded the crowd quickly swelled to up to 1,200 people, said Wes Bellmore, spokesman for the Edmonton Police Service.
“They ignored demands to disperse and eventually started throwing rocks, bottles, golf balls and chunks of concrete at the officers,” he said. “It was a riot. There was looting. There was smashed windows. We had to call in a total of 95 officers.”
More than 30 businesses were damaged. Sixteen people were arrested. No one was seriously injured.
