THE Australian whose kiss in the midst of the Vancouver hockey riots went viral claims he was assaulted by police just seconds before the iconic embrace.
Perth man Scott Jones was photographed lying down in the middle of the street kissing his Canadian girlfriend, Alexandra Thomas. Details of the photo have until now remained unclear.
Mr Jones broke his silence to tell how riot police hit them with their shields as he and his girlfriend tried to escape the violence.
He told CBC the pair had left a bar where they had been watching the Stanley Cup final, when they became caught up in the riots.
"I went back towards her. They [the police] started beating us with the shields trying to get us to move," Mr Jones said.
"I don't know why, we weren't being aggressive towards them or anything like that, but eventually they passed over us and that's when we were on the ground.
"I was just trying to calm her down, it was pretty scary for her and it seemed like the best thing to do."
Mr Jones said his partner became "hysterical"� after the assault.
"I personally think they [the police] over-reacted, they treated us all like criminals," he said.
The couple said that the aftermath from the game was not the type of excitement they were expecting.
"It happened so fast," Ms Thomas said.
"I never expected it to turn into that situation so quickly."
The couple started dating six months ago after Mr Jones moved to Canada from Australia.
They plan to move to Melbourne after a three-week US holiday.
