Sunday, July 11 was the UEFA Euro 2020 Final between Italy and England, and I went to Cafe Milano in Montreal to watch. Montreal's Italian community is quite large, and I saw firsthand the community's hope to see their team win the cup.

The game was extremely close until the end, but Italy finally won the match in a penalty shoot-out. The last time Italy won the Euro title was in 1968, so it was understandable that the crowd was ecstatic. Music, DJs, smoke bombs, and fireworks were all on the menu. Everyone was celebrating like there had never been a pandemic.

The police clearly had not anticipated the number of people that would be out celebrating. The majority of officers that were out spent their time trying to find people who were using fireworks, but they were indeed outnumbered. No tear gas or pepper spray was used against the crowd, which was mainly made up of families. Very few tickets were issued, despite the numerous fireworks and use of alcohol. The evening ended late, but peacefully.