At first glance the picture, snapped during Vancouver's hockey riots, seemed to show a young couple lying on the road and kissing, oblivious to the chaos around them. Now it appears that the real force behind the arresting image was not romance, but a charge by riot police who knocked Scott Jones and his girlfriend, Alex Thomas, to the ground.
The picture taken by Canadian photographer Richard Lam became a global sensation – appearing in the media, shared on Facebook and tweeted around the world – and looked set to take its place as one of the world's most iconic kiss photographs.
"How's that for making love, not war," astonished dad Brett Jones declared on his Facebook page, announcing that his son, Scott, was the Romeo depicted in the picture.
But others wondered if it was a fake, and the photographer himself had doubts about what the picture really showed. A second shot emerged showing more people around the couple and adding to the mystery.
A witness, identifying himself as William, wrote to the Vancouver Sun to give his take. He said he was on top of a carpark looking down on the place where the picture was taken. "What happened was the police line rushed the crowd and this couple trying to stay together couldn't react in time and were run over my two riot police officers.
"The girl who was knocked over landed head first on the pavement with her boyfriend landing partially on top of her. She was in visible pain, crying, but the two officers gave them a parting shove and moved on. Bystanders went to go make sure she was OK. I understand that the frontline police have to control the crowd but it is a bit ridiculous that they couldn't have other officers or paramedics behind the line to help anyone who is hurt."
Australian media have widely identified the man in the picture as Scott Jones, a 29-year-old from Melbourne who has been living in Vancouver for six months. The woman is said to be his girlfriend Alex Thomas, a Canadian.
His mother, Megan Jones, told NineMSN: "I knew it was him because he doesn't have a lot of clothes with him and he always puts on the same thing."
Before the full story emerged, she said she was shocked to spot her son lying in the middle of the street but not surprised. "It is something he would do, that's our boy. He has always lived in his own world, he's special like that. He doesn't always connect with what going on around him. I'd have to have my house flooded to get on the news, but he just has to kiss a beautiful girl."
Scott's sister Hannah said people had been posting on Scott's Facebook page. "You keep getting played on the news. You're famous!" one wrote. Jones replied: "Classic! This was shortly after the riot police run over the top of us and naturally Alex needed some comforting."
Lam took the photograph while covering the riots that followed the Vancouver Canucks' 4-0 loss to the Boston Bruins in the Stanley Cup.
The photographer was being buffeted by rioters and riot police when he spotted the couple. "I was about 20 or 30 yards away," he said. "There were these two people on the ground in this empty street. Initially I thought one of them was hurt." He took a few shots and then the moment was lost.
"It was complete chaos. Rioters set two cars on fire and then I saw looters break the window at a neighbouring department store," he said.
"At that point the riot police charged right towards us. After I stopped running I noticed in the space behind the line of police that two people were lying in the street with the riot police and a raging fire just beyond them.
"I knew I had captured a moment when I snapped the still forms against the backdrop of such chaos but it wasn't until later when I returned to the rink to file my photos that my editor pointed out that the two people were not hurt, but kissing," Lam said before the real story behind the photo came out.
A second photograph taken by Richard Lam of the 'kissing couple' lying in a Vancouver street A second photograph taken by Richard Lam of the 'kissing couple' lying in a Vancouver street after the hockey riots. Photograph: Rich Lam/Getty Images
Officials in Vancouver said almost 150 people required hospital treatment and almost 100 were arrested during the riot.
A spokeswoman for the local health authority said three stabbing victims had been admitted and one man was in a critical condition with head injuries after a fall from a viaduct.
Rioting and looting left cars burned, stores in shambles and windows shattered over a roughly 10-block radius of the city's main shopping district.
The police chief, Jim Chu, said nine officers were injured, including one who required 14 stitches after being hit with a thrown brick. Chu said some officers suffered bite marks. He said 15 cars were burned, including two police cars.
He called those who incited the riot "criminals and anarchists" and said officers identified some in the crowd as the same people who smashed windows and caused trouble through the same streets the day after the 2010 Winter Olympics opened.
"These were people who came equipped with masks, goggles and gasoline," he said. "They had a plan."
Chu said those who stood by and filmed and cheered also bore responsibility.
The assistant fire chief, Wade Pierlot, said people were rescued from rooftops and bathrooms where they had hidden for safety. He said some people moved burning dumpsters away from buildings to prevent further damage.
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