We followed Saturday’s protest against police brutality from the 23rd and Union rallying point to the East Precinct headquarters and, eventually, Seattle Central Community College.
Things got a little wild at points, with some protestors carrying torches and chanting, “We carry torches for our dead. This revolt will never end.”
There was disagreement within the group as some black-clad members started throwing trash cans, car tires and sidewalk signs into the roadway. Other members of the group picked up the thrown items and put them back, prompting some arguments.
In the end, there did not appear to be any injuries or arrests. Police barricaded 12th Ave and Pine for several hours, snarling traffic in the area, especially on Pike.
We live-blogged it on Twitter (if you want some actually good photos, check out Joshua Trujillo’s shots at the P.I.):
“All Cops Are Bastards”? Really?
Personally, if I had to choose between a few bastards hanging out in the CD, versus the once-a-week sound of gunshots that we had to live with a few years back … I’ll take the bastards.
BTW, painting one group of people as pure good or pure evil (“all cops are bastards”) almost never leads to any long-term good.
I watched the so-called standoff from my friend’s place. The cops just stood there while the protesters continually shouted threats at them. Not just insults but actual threats of physical violence. I even heard one guy yell something about setting the cops on fire and almost everyone in the group laughed. There were a few guys at the front who were especially angry and full of threats, but the majority of the crowd was definitely not of a peaceful mind. It wasn’t the usual “few troublemakers” that always get the blame, it was almost everyone.
While they were walking down Pine street you could hear the sounds of breaking glass and garbage cans getting knocked over.
Not once did I see any of the cops move or hear any of them say anything.
I’m also a bit disappointed that the reporter seems to be significantly downplaying the agressive nature of this protest. I didn’t see anyone physically assault anyone else, but they were far from a peaceful group and there’s no way the reporter missed any of those shouted threats. It was loud and clear even from inside the apartments next door.
I want to sympathize with the Occupy movement based on what they say they stand for, but their actions are driving me and many other people further away every time they do something.
What I saw out there was simply disgraceful and it makes me wonder what’s really happening at all those other “peaceful” protests where the cops are getting accused of being too rough.
Let’s all get one thing clear. These people are not ‘occupiers’. They’re anarchists, plain and simple, that have drifted from one stupid ’cause’ to another since well before the ‘occupy’ movement. I almost hesitate to call them anarchists because being able to call them anything at all makes one think there’s some unifying quality or trait they possess. They don’t, other than being young, homeless (their choice!), and infinitely willing to blame everyone other than themselves for their lot in life. Take little comfort in the fact that anarchists don’t even know what the hell anarchy means or looks like, because these fools don’t ever grow up and when one gets incarcerated another moronic revolutionary takes their place.
They had ZERO influence on the genesis of OS. What they did do was infect OS (which I also think is ridiculous, but that’s a different topic) with their brand of poorly defined and malicious aggression, and basically killed it. When they finally realize the OS label doesn’t have any residual sympathy from we sensible liberals, they’ll parasitize the next semi-organized movement du jour and kill it too. They suck at EVERYTHING, and they’re mad at EVERYBODY, and they’re lashing out.
Ignoring them doesn’t work; they regard that as public acceptance. Taking them on energizes them. Talking to them won’t work either, they have a bottomless pit of conspiracy theories, historical inaccuracies, and regurgitated pamphlet drivel they can employ to avoid answering any hard questions.
The only solution that I can see is just as amorphous as the anarchists themselves: somehow society has to stop producing all of these under-educated yet self-entitled douchebag kids. I mean COME ON, that’s some nerve to be so disconnected from society and reality AND think the rest of us owe them something! Like the anarchists, I have no idea how to implement my goal. I just know we have to wait on them to die out and somehow stop replenishing their numbers.
we need to stop talking about them and engaging in conversations with them on this site and any others then. remember when the press stopped talking about britney and she miraculously got better? just ignore the ignorance and they won’t have a voice.
Britney didn’t get better, the media just stopped writing about her. She’s probably still a total dumpster fire that people around her have to deal with. Our local anarchists are our dumpster fire whether the media covers them or not. They’re not going away.
Like I said, ignoring them doesn’t work. They either (a) take it as evidence that the rest of us approve of what they’re doing, (b) take it as evidence we don’t care what they’re doing, or (c) are so desperate for whatever scraps of attention we useful & busy people have for them that they’re bound to act out anyway by… I don’t know, stealing a house, destroying it with filth & junior-high-level propaganda, and using it as a base to graffiti the surrounding neighborhood. They would of course call this ‘raising awareness’.
Ehrp. Sorry, just vomited in my mouth.
It’s the combination of not having a voice and incorrectly feeling that you deserve a big one that will keep them coming back,.
Perhaps they should join Lyndon LaRouch and become LaRouchies, their tactics are similar.
I didn’t downplay anything. I included some of the phrases repeated through the night that seemed to sum things up. A play-by-play of all the verbal insults would be tedious.
The march was “peaceful” (not a word I used) in that no person was physically assaulted of harmed. Some signs along the route probably have some damage (cue debate over whether property destruction is “violence”), though others in the crowd cleaned up after the rowdy ones and put things back.
People certainly had some nasty things to say to the police, but some of the police talked back and mocked them. The police had riot equipment and were ready for things to get physical, but it didn’t.
They marched right past my place.. my thoughts?
1 – Clean yourselves up
2 – pull up your pants
3 – follow the law
4 – cut your hair
5 – stop wearing hoodies
6 – go look for a job!
Funny that I’ve never been a victim of police violence.. oh, that’s right, I follow the law!
PS I hate Newt! Go Obama!
Hey Missy Missy I think your on to something. As a teenager there are three basic things I learned for survival when driving a car or drinking underage. 1. Never run from a cop. 2. Never argue with a cop (wait till your court appearance). 3. Never hit a cop.
Lack of education as I have said before about them.
I did not follow the march, but walked through the crowd when it was still gathering at 23rd/Union. With my 2-year-old in her stroller. Folks made way for us and smiled. I am not a cop, but I certainly didn’t feel threatened by the folks who were out.
Looking over and seeing 3 cop cars, the bike support van, and numerous officers around did make me wonder about proportionate reponse, though.
What would be a proportionate response? This is a silly question. Did the police have access to the RSVP’s to know how many protesters were going to show up?
Honestly, I don’t know a cop, I am not one, nor have I had any interaction with one in a long, long time (and even then it was a helpful interaction after someone broke into my car). So, maybe I am out of touch. But, if I were, or a loved one was a cop, and I knew a group of protestors were going to be out protesting against anything I, or my loved one stood for, you can be sure as hell I would be there. Why would I sit back and wait for something or someone stupid to happen?
I used to be a cop. Yup, that’s partly where my jaded perspective comes from. 80% of the time seeing people at their worst moment in life. Witnesses and victims lying to me often for no reason at all, just because they want to help. “I was there, I saw….” And then you find out they didn’t see anything, but, they wanted to see it. There’s a couple ways to react and I did them all. I just wrote down their statements without judgement. I called them liars and suggested they stick to the facts mam. I arrested them. I got jaded and learned to trust no one. Everybodies story has and element that doesn’t match the facts. I tried to find the truth. I went batty. I started drinking with the criminals and had a better time than with my peers. I sovled crimes. I could get information from the bad guys that was better than from the good guys. It was great. It was really shitty. Ya. I got fired. Left an executed arrest warrant in the trunk and a guy speent two weeks on jail when he should have been out in a day. And other dumb stuff like that. Poor police work. Let’s be honest. It’s a tough job. We need to weed out the not suited (me). Let’s weed out the mean people. Let’s do the same in all our work places and in our neighborhood.
A really nice, helpful, community policign type cop. But in many ways not a great cop. I have met much better. Better informed, more helpful, more professional. I’ve known and been helped by many of them.
I have been abused by cops – as a citizen. Had them ignore the facts, persecute, make up bogus stories, lie, and file petty charges that were of course dismissed. After much personal damage was done. I have known malicious cops. I have worked with them. I have seen them protected by the others. They don’t know how to de-escalate. They push for a fight. They pick out members of society and hunt them relentlessly. They tried to tell me – never give that guy a break.
Cops are like us. Good guys and bad guys and somewhere in between. Most of them are OK. Generally they are trying to help. What is crazy is the nut cases who seem to be on a mission to have a fight with the cops. They beg for trouble. I almost never wrote a ticket except to the morons that would swear, tell me they are in a hurry, etc. Way back then I might even drive a drunk home – before DUI was taken so seriously. But most of the drunks were combative. You couldn’t save them from themselves.
Police work is scary. You get too close or inattentive and the situation can turn on you in a split second. It’s like TV except you almost never get to pull your gun. Even when you should have.
I don’t know where to go with this. Help the cops. Report bad cops. Report bad guys. And all the dirt bags – stop being dirt bags. You can change.