This riot is an interesting lesson in not judging things that have been taken out of context.
See this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ5FVuRXHtA&feature=player_embedded
Looks like the guy in the hat is being accosted by a drunk who is looking for a fight. Guy in hat gets away only to be sucker punched and knocked out.
You can see the same drunk guy in another video where it appears that he is participating in flipping over a van:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03LVRkVAzpw
Rewind to a few minutes before the first video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWLqLeRv5sw&feature=player_embedded
The guy in the hat was smashing up an overturned car, and the drunk guy (around 2 minutes in) is attempting to stop the rioters.
With that context, when you re-watch the second video it is apparent that he is trying to prevent the van from being flipped.
I have a lot of respect for how some Vancouverites responded during the riot, and how very many responded after the riot. I highly doubt that would happen in any of the major cities I live near. It might happen in some of the smaller American cities, but know knows.
I also love how technology has enabled thousands of people to document this kind of stuff as it happens so the criminals can be caught and punished. Crowdsourced crimefighting.
Edit: I don't think anyone will actually LEARN a lesson about judging things out of context here. We see this stuff happen all the time here - someone posts a local news report about some outrageous event, outrage ensues, then more details come out that completely change the story. We never learn.
Edit2: Semi-related story (involves sports and car destruction). I went to a small NAIA college where sports didn't really matter. Every year before our game against our "rivals" from 30 minutes down the road, we had a sort of joint rally/cookout thing. For this event they would get two cars from a scrap yard which were stripped of engine parts but otherwise intact. Students from each school would destroy one of the cars. Unfortunately for one student who lived in a dorm near the football stadium and drove a crappy old car, they mistook his car for one of the cars to be destroyed.