Chaos breaks out in the streets of Toronto after Raptors' NBA championship win
Good morning and congratulations, Toronto! Your Raptors are officially NBA champions for the first time in history and it is GLORIOUS.
The 6ix in six, bay-bee!
It's exciting enough to scream over, to cry over, to pop bottles over... Heck, it's thrilling enough to smash up a police cruiser, apparently.
#Toronto knows how to celebrate - 📹 Toby Gu https://t.co/VwiOmatbNp #WeTheNorth #Raptors #WeTheChamps pic.twitter.com/E5XYFd4Y2K
— blogTO (@blogTO) June 14, 2019
What felt like all 2.9 million residents of Toronto took to the streets of downtown last night following the Raptors' NBA Finals win, prompting mass road closures amidst some seriously wild behaviour.
Toronto Police make arrests after a TTC special events vehicle was ransacked, one man tried unsuccessfully to pull down the Yonge Street sign. Police say the “isolated” vandalism was “not unexpected”. pic.twitter.com/Vt9etkWLoD
— Kevin Misener (@Misener680NEWS) June 14, 2019
I'm talking firework-spewing, street sign-defacing, Eaton Centre-climbing action.
Things got intense in the streets last night. #nbachamps pic.twitter.com/wsk9YzWVJh
— Lauren O'Neil (@laurenonizzle) June 14, 2019
Everybody wanted in on the celebratory action after Toronto dethroned Golden State to cap what's been an exhilarating playoff run.
Toronto fans sang O Canada on a TTC bus after the Raptors won the championship #Toronto #Raptors #WeTheNorth pic.twitter.com/BInncStNN5
— blogTO (@blogTO) June 14, 2019
Most people were in great spirits as they left bars, viewing parties and Jurassic Park — though some had perhaps consumed too many spirits.
Intersections all over downtown Toronto are like this... #WeTheNorth #WeTheChamps pic.twitter.com/rclXrj27sW
— francis vidal (@ForeknewFrancis) June 14, 2019
From Yonge-Dundas Square...
Toronto fans were climbing up everything at Yonge-Dundas Square after the Raptors NBA Championship win #Toronto #Raptors #WetheNorth 📹Abhi Raheja pic.twitter.com/yT0zPpQBll
— blogTO (@blogTO) June 14, 2019
To the waterfront...
Bruh Toronto is losing their minds rn, there’s fireworks going off and people climbing street poles, it’s like the eagles parade all over again pic.twitter.com/DvpGZaC3YU
— Goosey Mane (@Spooky_Goose) June 14, 2019
To the Annex...
Toronto is lit. Bloor street is shut down! Fireworks. Families in the street partying. #WetheNorth pic.twitter.com/IM18m8ZZdy
— Raptor əʌɐp Leonard (@jasperdevdave) June 14, 2019
To the area surrounding Toronto's Scotiabank Arena...
#SixInSix #WeTheChamps #wethenorth people be crazy up in the six pic.twitter.com/btVQSYXCu8
— Katelyn Roy (@roriroixx) June 14, 2019
To Nathan Phillips Square, where people were spotted swimming in the big central pond.
The celebration continues... People swimming, fireworks going off every 5 minutes... #WeTheNorth #toronto pic.twitter.com/6IXmLK1lgK
— Mayor Graydon Smith (@GraydonTheMayor) June 14, 2019
Fans were, as young people say, "lit" — and lighting illegal fireworks all over the city.
Toronto is setting off fireworks after Raptors win NBA Championship #Toronto #Raptors #WeTheNorth pic.twitter.com/PehOkNb0W9
— blogTO (@blogTO) June 14, 2019
Sadly, not everyone played nice.
Toronto Police made several arrests in the hours coinciding with the mass street parties, one of them connected to a shooting incident near Yonge and Gould streets.
One 19-year-old man was rushed to hospital with life-threatening injuries, according to paramedics, after being shot.
Several people were spotted handcuffed. Police cannot confirm a direct nexus to raptors celebrations, but shooting did occur just steps away from area where a parked TTC/police bus was taken over by fans. pic.twitter.com/U4tSn5O5ck
— Tammie Sutherland (@citytammie) June 14, 2019
Keyed up fans were also seen being handcuffed and pulled down from TTC buses and other vehicles in the city.
Crowds at Yonge and Queen climbing into and on top of a bus in the middle of the street before police arrive pic.twitter.com/QvOpiUlibb
— Mark McAllister (@McAllister_Mark) June 14, 2019
And in the wake of all the partying lies at least one severely defaced public transit vehicle.
People in Toronto really had to destroy a bus with spray paint smh pic.twitter.com/0hm6bA3gXX
— Overshield (@OvershieId) June 14, 2019
Police told 680 News that the damage was done by "a small handful of people that got out of hand."
Other than some bumps, bruises and brutal hangovers, however, almost everyone came out of the fray unscathed and with memories that'll last forever.
Lauren O'Neil
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