Dozens of merchants on Tuesday were left surveying the damage left behind after Chicago Blackhawks fans poured into the streets to celebrate the team's second Stanley Cup win in four years.
In all, more than 30 businesses suffered some sort of damage, from broken windows to looted inventory.
"Whoever was in charge of planning this thing, pushing everybody this way, they should have known better," said Sean Tehrani, the owner of the Basil Leaf Cafe, in the 2400 block of North Clark Street. "They closed the Red Line. They didn't have any buses going through. They didn't have any cabs going through. These people walked all the way from Wrigley [Field] to here."
At the Lakeview Smoke Shop nearly three blocks to the north, owner Aadil Khan showed off surveillance footage that showed one reveler smashing the front window. Others then helped themselves to what was inside.
- PHOTOS: Raucous Stanley Cup Celebrations
"They smashed the window and took everything in the window," he said.
There had been a plan to keep the crowd under control. Mounted patrols were staged near Wrigley Field, and barricades assembled on each side of Clark Street in front of the bars were zip-tied together. But the crowds simply toppled the barricades and rushed the street, forcing authorities to slowly and methodically push them south.
"There was a group that really stuck together well and they wouldn't disperse," said Chief of Patrol Wayne Guilliford, who insisted Tuesday the crowd control strategy was not flawed. "We have to use whatever tools we have available. ... the crowd size pushes the barricades over and then we have to readjust our responses and tactics to that."
While most celebrations around the city were peaceful, Chicago police said 23 arrests were made and 21 tickets were written by the time all the revelers went home.
| Revelers in the Streets |
