Vancouver’s Olympic cauldron smashed by vandals: Police
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Vancouver police are investigating after the Olympic cauldron at Jack Poole Plaza was focused by vandals over the weekend, doubtless for “bragging rights.”
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Police say the injury to the Downtown Vancouver landmark was “deliberate and deliberate.”
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Safety movies present two suspects method the bottom of the cauldron simply after 3:30 a.m. on Oct. 1. They left then returned half-an-hour later. One particular person got here on the cauldron with a device, whereas the opposite appeared to drag out a digicam to document the destruction.
“The video of the 2 suspects destroying a bit of Vancouver Olympic historical past is frustrating,” mentioned VPD spokesman Const. Jason Doucette on Tuesday.
Investigators imagine the pair will doubtless use the video “for some kind of bragging rights,” he added, urging the suspects’ pals or whoever sees the video to name police.
Photographs from the scene present the distinctive frosted glass on one of many cauldron’s arms was smashed, revealing a beam and LED lights beneath.
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Early estimates put the injury within the $10,000 vary.
Hannah Niki, undertaking supervisor at Studio G3 Glass, mentioned it was unhappy to listen to concerning the mindless vandalism that destroyed a undertaking close to and expensive to her father’s coronary heart. Her father, Naser Niki, an immigrant from Iran, was honoured to have been requested to assist construct the cauldron for the Olympics for the town he had made his new residence.
“He’s executed many tasks, however this implies lots to him,” she mentioned. “It’s by no means simple to see any of our tasks broken for any purpose, particularly one thing so symbolic and significant.”
Nasr mentioned her employees has already began the work to restore the cauldron. She estimates it’ll take about three weeks.
“Every bit on that cauldron isn’t like the opposite,” she mentioned. “The feel was made completely and we don’t reuse it.”
The Olympic cauldron was first unveiled for the 2010 Winter Video games’ opening ceremony at B.C. Place, with former athletes Wayne Gretzky, Steve Nash, Rick Hansen, Catriona Le Might Doan and Nancy Inexperienced Raine the final torchbearers to hold the Olympic flame into the stadium.
The cauldron was moved to its present location at Jack Poole Plaza exterior the Vancouver Conference Centre after the Video games. It’s re-lit for particular events, together with most just lately in February to honour Canadian athletes collaborating within the Beijing Olympics.
The investigation is continuous, mentioned Vancouver police.
