LINK http://www.worldtradeobserver.org/shutdown.htm

Protesters Shut Down Seattle Wednesday, December 1, 1999

Observer reporters were everywhere in Seattle yesterday, covering marches and demonstrations from dawn to dusk and one end of the city to another. They saw things the mainstream media have missed or ignoredalong with scenes that fill this mornings papers and last nights broadcasts. One troubling theme that recurred several times was the police singling out peaceful demonstrators for gassing and beatingeven, in one instance, shooting out one lens of a demonstrators glasses with a rubber bulletwhile ignoring black-clad hooligans breaking windows and spraying paint.

Environmental and labor leaders were quick to condemn the outbreak of violence (see story). Hundreds of them have worked for months to mount a powerful, thoughtful, and widespread challenge to problems with trade as now practiced and with the World Trade Organization itself.

The violence in the streets of Seattle threatens to wash away the headway they have made, unless the WTO and particularly the media understand that the rogue elements that ran amok yesterday have nothing to do with the forces that came here to work for peaceful change. And the violence continued late into the night, long after most of the constructive protesters had gone home.

Herewith, then a random compilation of quotes, reports, and other material gathered by the Observer staff on Tuesday.

At 9:30 the worst possible thing happened: it stopped raining. The sun came out and turned what is normally a surly, snarly, dank day into a summer playground.

At the same time, protesters massed at Sixth Ave. in the downtown shopping center. Police ordered them to move back. They sat down. Police donned gas masks. The protesters held their ground as the police doused them with pepper spray. A few ran with eyes closed and running; others sat down and flushed their eyes with water and baking soda. Police then teargassed the other side of the street to disperse the crowd.

At 10:30 I came across a woman who was suffering an asthmatic attack from tear gas and going into shock," said one reporter. Police officers arrived and in ten minutes she was taken away in an ambulance.

Laura Livoti, reporting for World Trade Watch (a syndicated radio program airing live every day this week on more than 100 stations nationwide), was clubbed and pepper-sprayed by a police officer in riot gear as she was conducting an interview with a bystander. She waved her press credential to no avail. The entire incident, which Laura caught on tape, will be heard nationwide on World Trade Watch on Wednesday.

At a Starbucks near the riot zone, a blackshirt smashed the lock on the door, opened it, and invited onlookers inside to help themselves. Two protesters grabbed him, pulled him away and closed the door, then linked arms to stop potential looters.

Brian Frank, a protester from Olympia, Washington, reported that at about 5:00 p.m. a group of teenagers started breaking windows at Niketown and nearby stores, apparently intending to loot. They stole several backpacks from protesters and started to go through the contents. They had no evident political motives. When protesters realized what was afoot, they surrounded the youths and chanted, "No violence, no violence." The teenagers attacked the protesters with fists, sticks, and bottles. At this point, the police rushed in, shooting rubber bullets and tear gas indiscriminately. Everyone ran. The whole thing was over in three minutes.

Several observers noted that the police reaction was more brutal the farther they were from downtown and television cameras. The officers seemed to be particularly violent near the freeway.

Juliette Beck of the Direct Action Network and the California Fair Trade Campaign wondered what had changed. "Until today the Seattle Police have been cooperative and respectful, allowing us to exercise our First Amendment rights, even helping us with banner-hangs. But today it seems as if they were getting orders from higher up. It was an enormous strategic blunder for the police to react against peaceful demonstrators in a violent manner."

One correspondent reported: "The police began to come through on Baron toward Pine with a number of delegates and the protesters stopped them. At first it looked as if it was headed for a clash, especially as one young man was held at bay as he was getting too close. The prostesters on the front line sat down very tightly and the police were not able to get through. They carried one delegate over them and the rest backed away and left."

A group wearing black with face masks ran through the downtown shopping district spray-painting anarchy symbols and other grafitti on marble exteriors. Windows were smashed with rocks and other blunt instruments at McDonalds, a Sharper Image, Rite-Aid, and a bank.

Around noon, Rainier Square was the site of more hostile action by the police as they formed two lines of officers on foot and a back line on horseback. They fired large doses of tear gas into the crowd of peaceful demonstrators, who began moving down Fourth Avenue toward Pike. Pike Street remained in the hands of protesters throughout the day. As many began to come down from Rainier Square, several protesters knocked over large dumpsters into the street to block vehicles. Later in the evening, someone started a fire in one of the dumpsters.

Mennonites for Fair Trade marched alongside the Machinists Union. Longshoremen and church groups all pressed forward to the Trade and Convention Center as the last of the marchers left Memorial Stadium more than a mile away.

Around 2:00 pm, Rainforest Action Network activists scaled the front of Pike Tower on Sixth Avenue and Pike, where they hung an enormous banner with the message, "Dont Trade On Us. . . Dont Let Democracy Die in Seattle."

One enterprising merchant was selling gas masks on the street for ten dollars apiece.

At 3:00 the police made a strategic mistake. They set up a defense perimeter around the hotels and blocked street access, creating dead ends and cul de sacs. They left Niketown, the GAP, and Planet Hollywood unprotected.

Several middle-aged, well-dressed Seattlites watching the mayhem respond, "Right on" and "Its about time." Apparently the politicians have underestimated public dislike of the WTO.

After one protester used foul language on K5TV, the reporter said, "I apologize if you hear things you wouldnt normally hear in your home, but this is not a normal event."

Pike Place Market stayed safely outside the fray, and enjoyed brisk business from protesters and curious onlookers alike.

Around 3:30 the protesters at Fourth Avenue set a trash can on fire. Police responded with loud shots of tear gas. The crowd was very large.

The Peoples March was peaceful and quiet until it reached downtown.

Pine Street was renamed "Union Way" as it filled up with labor activists.

Near the Paramount, as mounted police approached a group of demonstraters, a band played the national anthem.

During the march a teamster called out "Teamsters love turtles." The turtle replied, "Turtles love teamsters."

"It was a rally and march Dr. Seuss would have been proud of," said one reporter, "and appropriately enough it was led by the Lorax." At the front of the march was Kira McCrae, who wore a sign that read, "I speak for the trees, for the trees have no voice." Participants included Olympia high school students, seniors, and workers. Carl Pope of the Sierra Club told the crowd at Memorial Stadium, There is a bit of everyone in this movement. It is not a perfect product, it is a democratic product."

NBC Nightly News described the protesters as "an odd collection of activists with all sorts of causes," while showing a tape of a hippie woman performing a "Dead Head" style dance.

As clouds of teargas wafted around corners and rubber bullets ricocheted just blocks away, the citizens of Seattle took a relatively nonchalant view of the protests. While protesters squared off against armored riot police, a female spectator commented, "Its nice to see a good demonstration." A bus driver blocked by a human chain at the intersection of Pike and Boren seemed similarly nonplussed. "They have a point about their cause. Its affecting my job to a degree, but I can still function."

Earth Island Institutes rubber dolphin was a casualty, lying limply in the path of a cloud of tear gas that drifted slowly down Sixth Avenue.

Many protesters were undeterred by the tear gas. Wearing everything from gas masks to ski goggles and wet bandanas, protesters threw gas canisters back at the advancing police officers. Self appointed medics carried jugs containing a mixture of water, baking soda, and soap, which they used to clean the faces of casualties.

When things got started in the morning, the mood was wet and surly, "We're wet, we're cold, and we don't like Monsanto," was heard coming from a giant genetically modified cow. In a surprisingly swift deployment the affinity groups were able, very early in the morning, to block approximately 10 to 20 intersections with lockdowns, inflated whales and circles of people.

Michael Moore, the good one, was seen near the Paramount Theater trying to make a trade with Indonesia. He brought in some of the kids of locked-out Kaiser Steelworkers and offered to trade them for sweatshop labor kids, who have jobs, albeit low-wage ones. He applied barcodes to their foreheads, and then ran a supermarket barcode scanner over them. "Okay, they're ready! They've been scanned!" He tried to weasel his way in to speak to some delegates, but not even he was allowed beyond the police line.

A Seattle policeman at Sixth and Stewart referred to the tear gas as "Seattle fog." He had a gas mask, but said hed never used one in the line of duty.

At 10:40, approximately 100 students from Lewis and Clark College in Portland and others formed a human chain, locking their hands together in cylinders made of duct tape, chicken wire, and other materials. A rainbow appeared on the horizon as students chanted, "aint no power like the power of the people because the power of the people dont stop."

The police released the first rounds of tear gas and pellets into a group of non-violent protesters who were linking arms in rows. Only one warning was issued before the gas was fired. At the same time, a band of anarchists was smashing store windows and spraying graffiti. The anarchists were ignored by the police.

Six oclock. Typical Seattle. Even as tear gas was carried north of the Pike Place Market, Seattlites still waited for the light to change before crossing, even when there was no traffic.

To end this chaotic report, we can report that security Wednesday is expected to be increased by 300 Washington State troopers and two units of the National Guard called out by governor Gary Locke.

Tuesdays arrestees (number unknown) were being processed at the Brig at Sand Point Naval Academy and taken to the King County jail. None had seen a lawyer by evening.

Mike Moore, head of the WTO said, "I regret that this morning the opening ceremony could not be held as scheduled. This conference will be a success." The Mayor of Seattle released a statement thanking the protesters who tried to stop the violence.

Final note: Many of the protesting groups are sending teams of volunteers around Seattle to clean up the damage done yesterday. The work begins at 7:00 am, but no one will be turned away. Bring brooms, trash bags, rags, scrubbers, and yourselves to Victor Steinbrueck Park at First Avenue and Virginia Street, just north of Pike Place Market.

This article was written by Tom Turner, Micah Anderson, Dan Zoll, Alison Levine, Brian Smith, Heather Kaplan, Rich Knapp, Alison Hawkes, Judith Barish, David Ortman and Karen Levy.

-- Sheri (wncy2k@nccn.net), December 01, 1999

Answers

"The police released the first rounds of tear gas and pellets into a group of non-violent protesters who were linking arms in rows. Only one warning was issued before the gas was fired. At the same time, a band of anarchists was smashing store windows and spraying graffiti. The anarchists were ignored by the police. "

Propoganda? Or Agent Provocateurs? Like to see how TPTB handle the questions on that one...

-- Billy Boy (Rakkasan101st@aol.com), December 01, 1999.

Did anyone else catch the picture on page 19A of USA TODAY. If you didn't, look, you'll see a lone man with a black scarf over his face throwing a trash-can through StarBucks window. No one else is shown closer than twenty feet to him, and if there was someone closer than fifty feet, they would be in the picture too, I'm sure. Media would love to show mob.

But most important, notice what he has under his arm. - An Israeli Gas Mask. This guy came ready to cause trouble, and prepared to flee. I'm betting none of the persons arrested had one of those. I wish I could tell if that was a military haircut he had.

Any Takers?

-- SilentRunnig (CanYouHearMe@Calling.You), December 01, 1999.

Boy Sheri,

Thanks a lot for this post, I am going to mail it to as many as I can.

It just amazes me how misrepresented this is in the major media.

sean

-- sean (boy@really.that-bad), December 01, 1999.

This is a good and accurate report of what happened in my opinion. I so wish that they, the ANARCHISTs had been arrested and given what they deserved and more so. It was such a special day with so many people from so many organizations and from so many places to try to make a difference in the world that we live in today. Our hope was ruined by a bunch of Anarchist thugs.

-- Kayla (kaylam@jetcity.com), December 01, 1999.

Kayla...

.....These were agents profocatuer to discredit the protestations of those that are knowledgable about the evil behind the WTO. Where were all of the protestors back in '94 when Clinton called a lame-duck session of Congress back to the district of criminals in late December to pass this 23,000 page monstrosity that not one Congresscritter took the time to read?! The vote went through with the diminished numbers of members present, (many of whom had already been voted out of office), and we had Gatt shoved down the throats of the American people, inspite of 80% of those polled opposing it.

.....This also created the WTO and allowed our trade policy to be de facto initiated from Geneva, Switzerland via secret tribunal that makes decisions in private with NO APPEAL!!!

.....Too many of our citizens sat watching Roseanne or idiotic sports to care that their sovereignty had just been stolen, (bread and circuses?), or do they even know what sovereignty is? The chickens of America's political inactivity are now coming home to roost.

-- Patrick (pmchenry@gradall.com), December 01, 1999.