Olympic revellers wanting to toast their enjoyment of the Winter Games are getting a small reprieve from Vancouver police Monday night.
Liquor stores in the city's downtown core will remain open until 11 p.m. Monday after being forced to close four hours earlier on Saturday and Sunday.
Police requested the 7 p.m. close in order to curb public drunkenness and disobedience, said Const. Lindsey Houghton.
"Really, what it comes down to is what types of crowds we're seeing, what events are going to happen that night -- both on the sporting side and the Live City site -- and we'll be re-evaluating that on a daily basis," he told CTV News.
Police chief Jim Chu said the decision to shut down liquor stores contributed to the calm on Sunday night.
"It was excellent because a lot of drunks showed up at liquor stores hoping to restock and they weren't able to do that," he said.
Despite early closing hours Sunday, police say they confiscated and dumped about 1,000 containers of alcohol. More than 150,000 people crowded into downtown on Friday and Saturday nights.
Responsible for partly dampening the sprits of Olympic enthusiasts on the street Sunday was team Canada's 5 – 3 loss to the U.S. in men's hockey.
Store owners voiced their complaints over lost sales, but police said the preventative measure succeeded.
"Our concern is less the people in the bars and restaurants. The people openly drinking in public is our concern," said Chu.
