Vancouver's kissing couple: The romance in the middle of the riot (Video)

Scott Jones and Alexandra Thomas got caught up in the moment as rioting mobs filled the Vancouver streets after the Vancouver Canucks lost to the Boston Bruins in the Stanley Cup finals on June 15.(Photo: Rich Lam/Getty Images)
Scott Jones and Alexandra Thomas got caught up in the moment as rioting mobs filled the Vancouver streets after the Vancouver Canucks lost to the Boston Bruins in the Stanley Cup finals on June 15.(Photo: Rich Lam/Getty Images)

As thousands of hockey fans filled the Vancouver streets in a violent reaction to the Vancouver Canuck's Stanley Cup loss to the Boston Bruins, one image stands out: A young couple lying in amid the chaos, kissing.

In an interview with NBC's Today Show, Scott Jones and Alexandra Thomas say that they weren't there to participate in the mayhem, and they certainly didn't intend to create an iconic image.

"I'd call myself a tourist," Jones, who is from Australia, told Matt Lauer and Ann Curry. "It was game seven, you know? Stanley Cup final. Something was going to happen, whether we won or lost, something big. So, I just wanted to bear witness to what was going on."


"I never felt in danger while we were down there until the riot police came along," he said. Thomas was knocked to the ground as the police chased the couple, who were trying to escape the sudden chaos around them. "They started beating us with the shields, trying to get us to move," Jones said. "I don't know why-we weren't being aggressive toward them or anything like that."

A moment later and Jones was on the ground, too, trying to comfort his girlfriend of six months with a kiss.

"I was just trying to calm her down," Thomas said of the romantic lip lock. "It was pretty scary for her, and it seemed like the best thing to do."

The eerie glow behind them in the photograph comes from the cars that rioters were overturning and setting on fire. What seemed like just a moment in hockey history had turned crazy. "It happened so fast," Thomas added. "I never expected it to turn into that situation so quickly."



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