In a pre-dawn SWAT raid, police surrounded Capitol Hill’s 10th and Union area and stormed a building to flush out a group inside. Earlier Friday night, members of Occupy Seattle had entered the slated-for-demolition building and said they intended to use the space as a new headquarters.
Organizers said there had been at least 20 arrests. The arrested were being booked on charges of criminal trespass and included men and women, according to police. A police spokesperson said he could not yet confirm how many people were arrested but that a report would be available later Saturday. UPDATE: King County Jail records indicate 13 people booked this morning for criminal trespass with a handful also booked for obstruction. UPDATEx2: SPD reports 16 arrested. Details below.
The building will be demolished to make way for a 79-unit apartment building. CHS reported Friday morning that the developer plans to begin demolition this week but members of the group said they had heard a rumor that the demolition permit had expired. City records show that the permit is valid through November 2012. Developer Seawest has said it plans to begin construction of the new project in January.
The Friday night takeover came as Seattle’s Occupy group learned that a Thurston County judge had upheld the Seattle Community College system’s right to invoke an emergency rule to ban camping on the Seattle Central campus. It follows a takeover in the Central District of an empty home at 23rd and Alder across the street from Garfield High School. We do not have any reports of a raid at that location but our sister site Central District News reported Friday on efforts being prepared to remove the group squatting in the duplex. Friday night, some of the group taking over the 10th and Union building told CHS they would simply find another building if they were removed. Up Union two blocks, the Undre Arms Apartments sit empty awaiting demolition and another new apartment project.
Early Saturday morning, a large contingent of police were at 10th and Union when CHS arrived following the raid. We were told police began entering the building just before 4am entering through doors and the roof of the building. A Seattle Fire ladder truck was at the scene to provide roof access.
We have not heard reports of injuries at this time.
(Image: @occupyseattle)
Nice work, SPD! It’s good that they are finally being more aggressive with illegal occupations. It’s better to take care of this now instead of waiting for the “protestors” (aka squatters) to get more entrenched, as they did at SCCC.
Now, I hope they will do the same thing at the occupied house across from Garfield HS.
What a great story to wake up to.
Thank-you SPD!
Yes! Agreed, great work SPD & thank you! Keep it up!
Yes! Thank you SPD for moving so quickly. This is becoming a bigger and bigger issue and needs the immediate attention you provided! And as far as I’ve heard, it was efficient and violence free! Thank you!
I’m a small business owner and I can’t get the police in this city to investigate property crime or a break-in because they don’t have the time and resources. I’ve heard similar stories from other business owners, homeowners and victims of vandalism and theft. But, they can cordon off a three block area, roll out a dozen police cruisers, enlist the fire department and SWAT team and spend thousands of dollars to evict a small group of people from an abandoned building? The Seattle Police Department’s priorities are not where they should be. If they have this much free time and the resources for this sort of action and the sustained surveillance they’ve dedicated to watching Occupy Seattle, then we obviously need to cut their budget or demand that they re-examine what they are being paid for. This can not possibly be the best use of taxpayer money.
Thank you SPD! Take control. Who knows where they would have next.
I wonder who owned the building, that this was taken care of so quickly? Regular people in this town wouldn’t get this sort of service from the SPD. It must be one of the big developers, or one of the friend$ of the council.
If they want to occupy something, occupy the Rainier Club. That will give the bastards some Maalox moments. I’d love to see how a SWAT team would handle that.
Yes, thank you SPD for your constant overreaction, overuse of force, and lack of understanding of the occupy movement. Im sure glad there are people like you guys constantly trying to silence the vioce of the people. We are so fortunate you and many other law enforcement agencies continue to enforce your militaristic tactics in the name of damning freedom. Keep up the good work!
I am a small business owner a block away from OS and in my multiple years on Capitol Hill have never seen the mayhem we’ve experienced here in the past 5 weeks…. Between clearing those Godamn stickers and graffiti off everything, we have been burglarized 4 times, and have been tripping over needles daily… I have heard that the local Walgreen has practically given up on snatch and run shoplifting…. You want to cry for the poor guy trying to run the SCCC Performance Art Center…. What a shit show!
Let me say on behalf of the 99% of my Cap Hill neighbors thank you SPD and a great start to claiming our neighborhood back.
They’ll just find somewhere else. These problems that they’re protesting don’t just go away. You’re going to have a dead protester one of these days when some trigger happy swat team member gets spooked.
Last night was 34 degrees out – or less. And the heroic police, en masse, un announced, in the middle of the freezing night, supported by the new yuppies on the Hill, they threw people needing shelter out of an empty, trashed by previous tenants, tear down building …
Why?
Seems the so called squatters, they are less than human, poor, mostly homeless. Oh, no, stop. All of those, but, well now, seemingly for a change organized into a group …. beware, the REAL red scare, they could be commies.
Thus, dangerous. Oh, so dangerous. Everything important – all the crime we face is now cast aside. The homeless are a little bit organized, the police must mobilize and overload the judicial system with petty crime.
My Seattle, you are becoming like some place in Mississippi or Alabama. Sad.
By the way it is now 35 degrees, cold, cold. Dangerously, repeat dangerously cold for the homeless and zero resource folks, busted by the depression. Oh, that, most of the posters here have money in their pockets.
Cry me a river. There are many homeless shelters in Seattle, and there are very few nights when beds aren’t available. But then they couldn’t get drunk and/or use drugs, could they?
@Xavier
Mississippi or Alabama? ROFL!
Which group is hanging outside all night wearing hoods (hoodies) chanting like a bunch of clan members?
Want to get warm? Apologize to your parents… Maybe they will let you crashi in the spare room
I have a nice 2 bedroom condo on the Hill, high security, 4th floor. I feel so much safer now.
Safer, here on the fourth floor of a secure building. Police have kept me safe. Nordstom is having a sale on platinum jewelry, silken garments, and imported perfume.
.. your mommies basement has been the sock reply to many serious postings … sounds kind of feeble to be honest. I am a business owner, investor, made my first million at 26, silly goose.
This issue is about heart and soul and priorities.
I see no reason to protect a tear down building in bitter cold which could serve many temporary shelter needs.
And it is akin to a red scare. And we are in the midst of the Second Great Depression, when do we admit thee are many years of this shit to go?
Through the ROOF? Are you nuts, SPD?
Thanks for protecting a building slated for demolition rather than protecting Seattle citizens from actual crime this morning. But I joke.
Amazing on the street coverage. And all in freezing cold. Can we buy you some brandy for the coffee?
Very good work.
My reward was catching the first half of Arsenal v. Wiggan in peace and quiet. But thanks :)
You see, it’s not a protest anymore, there in lies the problem. There are shelters for these folks, or they can just go back home. The occupy movement has become, just noise. Thanks SPD! NEXT – SCCC!
And how are you so sure they weren’t doing both? Thanks SPD for everything you do for us!
The Rainier Club is like a foreign country’s embassy. There would never be a call to the police. Not only could they shoot you in there, your body would go right into the studio apartment sized fireplace.
Occupy everywhere, you are just a sheep of another herd. The reason why might be it is an abandoned building you guys are committing a crime in. Not because the police give preferential treatment to certain people. It might have been a lot easier to verify beyond a reasonable doubt that occupy was not allowed in there since the owner information was posted on the building unlike 307 23 Av.
These “protesters” continue to baffle me. Yes, the things that the Occupy movement are trying to bring to light will not be going away anytime soon. And, our system is seriously broken. However, the protesters do their cause NO good by acting the way they are acting (i.e entitled, unfocused, no respect for the law, etc.)
I’m glad the SPD acted as they did. Squatting in any vacant building they choose to break into is simply wrong. And it needs to be stopped before it gets out of control.
Occupy Seattle is losing my empathy quickly.
Overreact much? The UN’s rapporteur on freedom of expression thinks so: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mobileweb/2011/12/02/occupy-wa
how many people were so quick to defend a guy getting an $800 tow bill for parking in a spot that isn’t his (and wasn’t being used)…but this shouldn’t be that big of a deal.
you fucking hippies disappoint me.
nice job SPD, best thing i’ve heard about you in the last 3 years.
None of this is new. Protesters camped out in the 30s, 60s and 70s often. There were mass die-ins, people protested by filling restaurants to sit-in and protest inequality. LGBT activists have been party to complaints about tactics for, well, the entirety of the LGBT rights movement.
Not a single thing is novel unless history is foreign to you.
Also not new: cheering on cop conduct.
It is still a protest. Actions are ongoing, planning continues. The majority of us are not campers so the idea that this is a big campout is ridiculous.
Just think: for weeks folks have been saying what you’re saying and yet Occupy is still here. Perhaps this is larger than you think? :)
Think about the sort of police actions possible when good people blindly promote crackdowns.
Think about the Seattle PD’s recent history.
This isn’t the glorious defense of Seattle you think it is.
So let’s stop the frighteningly right-wing pro-government crackdown rhetoric.
I’m not a hippie. Most of us aren’t.
Me? Just a gay activist :)
But we love the 5 or 6 hippies at are with us :)
That’s just silly. No one was saying he had a right to park where he was. Simply saying that $800 was excessive.
Wow, was there a hostage situation? Weapons? Or is this just a huge show of force so SPD can feel like their collective penis grew 13 inches that day?
What a huge waste of taxpayer money.
Thank you. The police over-reaction scares me more than anything occupiers could possibly do.
Job well done. Please continue your efforts to move these illegal squatters along.
AJ, can I say hon? You are being saved from the Occupy scare …. you do feel safer, don’t you?
Apparently, recently, a dog shit near the SCCC Occupy, and sundry other major problems. The site offered thousands of meals for over a month, no problem, but, all in a hypothetical lather about scary potential health problems – they were using bleach like crazy on dishes – exactly the right thing to do. Health Dept. never mentioned that.
I think a lot of the posters here ARE – police folks.
You forgot how many people get outraged when the Queers do their parade every year, leaves the street messy, a street is closed, and the fear that children might be affected by all that color and costuming … some of people here sound a great deal like the usual …. status quo conservatives, bitching and smug, lacking any social perspective beyond their small world.
Martya: Nordstom’s only carries brand name. If you want high end, and a glass of wine or scotch while you shop go to Mario’s or one of the boutique stores that haven’t moved to Bellevue.
Thank you for the great news coverage — I don’t see any other local outlets picking it up yet. Nice reporting!
I think – saying collective – 13 is a very small increase.
BUT, on overtime, weekend bonus time and war zone bonus time and missed sexual opertunity time – police pay checks will be much, much bigger… ah, so. Follow the money.
And where can I find the formula – maybe some pix?
Hey AJ, why base your opinion on a single one minute clip, when you can get the whole story.
http://youtu.be/hhPdH3wE0_Y
There is a whole lot more to that UC Davis pepper spaying incident than most realize.
It is much appreciated how professional and diplomatic you have been through these trying times. Thanks for all you do!
If someone that owns an unused abandoned property would come out and offer the use of it for Occupy Seattle for a Headquarters then this would no longer be an issue. Wish I owned one. I would be willing to do it.
Its easy to occupy a broke community college, not so easy to occupy a project owned and funded by deep pockets. Same reason they’re squatting in the CD and not north capitol hill. I suspect any occupation of the underarms will be quickly ejected as well.
This movement is a joke, trampling on those who don’t have the resources to do anything about it. Come to my hood, see what happens. We have foreclosures here and bank owned properties too, but we also have resources and motivation to get you out of here lickity split.
The people most affected by this os movement are the ones grinding it out just trying to make it, oh sweet irony.
And who pays for my building when it gets burned down? Who pays for my insurance? Will you be the one sued when a junkie od’s there? You don’t own a building because you have no idea what it takes to do so.
For anyone who cares about change for the better these fuckers are just… a bunch of fuckers. A bunch of inexperienced-at-life fuckers whose sole achievements are to split and embitter anyone who might be sympathetic to one of the myriad of their slogans.
The SPD action? Absolutely appropriate to meet message with message. Don’t get it yet?
Nope, not larger than I think, or care to think really. This will all just drift off as a short attention span phase until the next big thing takes up the headlines, now what were we talking about?
Did you not read the comments from local businesses above that some of these people ARE causing massive issues? Either the group needs to crack down on it or expect more of this. Considering whats happened in the camp, who knows what could happen behind the closed doors of an abandoned building.
Yup, the legal exposure to the property owner if one of these idiots gets a scratch (with or without the police) would be a nightmare. They wouldn’t win of course, but the money it would waste to defend against it anyway would be terrible.
I just made a suggestion. Did I say for you to do it? No. If you don’t want to do it then don’t. No one said you had to. So quit being a rude jerk. Might get your point across better if you didn’t act like such a schmuck about it.
It’s well-established that many of the IPs of posters on PubliCola and Slog are from groups like the second floor of City Hall and the Seattle Times offices. Go ahead and ask blog owners. They’ll confirm it.
It wouldn’t be surprising if some of the IPs matched certain precincts on these posts.
And yet they’re still people. So even if it is groupthink trolling it’s still people doing this. And that’s the problem.
You do make a good point about the pride parade reax, though.
There are Occupy protests in hundreds of cities nationwide. On any given night the actual protest function swells to tens of thousands (correcting for time zone differences) and on some nights to hundreds of thousands.
As far as vanishing, that prediction has been with us since day one. First it was gone within a week. Then a month. Now it’s just this nebulous “any day now” prediction.
It’s a movement because this is happening worldwide. A few hundred here and a couple thousand there doesn’t sound like much until you find out that there are hundreds of these protests ongoing now. It’s a movement.
As to your larger point, what message are you suggesting the cops are promoting here? They’ve cracked down on every aspect of Occupy, not just the inflammatory parts — they’ve even gone after the warm ‘n fuzzy ones. Like a jewish prayer hut and signs and curious old ladies.
So I gather you’re not from Capitol Hill? ;)
It’s not irony. It is their plan.
The trope of the crushed small business is tired. You hear it when the wrong color person moves in or you hear about it when gay activists protest a business and it’s always “why do they want to hurt us”.
I’m no economist but I can probably tell you what’s actually causing strife for businesses and people. It’s actually pretty much the same reason Occupy protesters are doing what they’re doing.
It’s the economy, buddy. :)
So the anti-poverty activists want to eat their own? Riiiight.
Cut the propaganda.
Whats to understand. We’re not your parents. We’re the rest of town, who’s sick of your noise. Trespassers are subject to arrest. Its an illegal act. Sorry your damn missing in action parents never taught you this fundamental fact, but your illegal sh*t is tiresome.
Oh, Sam. I’ve seen the clip.
So have the many observers who are decrying what happened at UC Davis. Given their gravitas and judgment I’d have to say I’m in good company in opposing what happened to UC Davis.
Heck, it’s how we all found out that Lt. Pike was actually slapped in a suit for anti-gay harassment.
Sorry punks, I don’t want you here, and I’m not alone. Go trash your own neighborhoods you came from. Eff off and leave us who actually live here alone. You are not my voice, you are a bunch of whiny children whose moms never told them “no.”
Glad the SPD got to practice their ‘terror’ fighting skills. SWAT teams on the roof? You people support this sort of police behavior?
These special ops types or raids in the middle of night are ridiculous. The complete overkill in manpower, the insane amount of money it must have cost. Go up to the building in the middle of the day with 4 cops and tell them they are in violation of the law and they must leave. Attacking them like they are holed up in there making bombs is crazy.
Is this what foreclosure evictions are going to start looking like too? Property uber alles?
Probably becuase the most important thing is to crush the movement as much as possible before the shopping season really kicks in.
The message from the cops to ME might be something like:
If you take a large group of people and very publicly break the law we will send a large group of people and very publicly stop you from breaking the law.
To members of the “movement” the message seems to be:
The greedy corporate overlords (probably in cahoots with the Trilateral Commission, big Pharma, …) are denying us our right to do what we want to do when and where we want to do it.
.. Caused by the effing protestors. Thats always the thing, protester zealots never seem to understand that their own actions have costs that others have to bear. In this case, the police overtime for their nice garbage collection at 4 am. What do you expect them to do to trespassers in private property in a building thats being demolished in a few days? I read of no injuries and no deaths. Only disappointment on the whole morning (just kidding. A little).
GTFO dummies. You overstayed your welcome, you aren’t in any way making coherent sense. If you had any balls you’d be occupying downtown banks, but you know what’d happen then. As for a “worldwide movement.” .. yes, on the internet. I am the 99% and all that. but breaking laws and breaking peoples daily routines just so you can have a nice sit-in or camp-out or trash another neighborhood you then dont help pick up? Go to hell, you selfish little twit.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2016921016_o
It cost a few pence now, but putting the fuckers in their place now means saving several pounds later.
When the police earn my respect, I’ll give it. Looks like they cleared out 70 people without injury or incident. Bravo.
property owners rights > a bunch of petulant immature precious little snowflakes who already made their point and overstayed their welcome.
imokwiththis.jpg
@truseattleite
this only recently became about occupying warehouse space.
up until yesterday’s ruling the occupy folks were content to camp on sccc property. prior to that, when they were still at westlake, the mayor offered the use of city hall as a camp; occupy turned him down. i’m not sure why, if basic space to build a shelter was one of their key tenets.
so it seems to me that this is less about shelter and more about fucking with “the powers that be”.
Born and raised, actually, right here on capitol hill. I’m a minority, raised by a single mother who clawed and scratched her way to make it, we were on food stamps, SSI, and free lunch programs. I’ve had had a job since I was 8. If I wanted something I could only depend on myself to get it. I used to deliver the capitol hill times from galer to republican every wednesday, by myself, when when I was 12 I got my first times route, and delivered the times daily until I was 17, bought a car, and needed to make more money.
I’ve been emploed over 33 years now in one capacity or another, have never taken unemployment, or any other subsidy. I know what it’s like to be broke, I’ve been there. But I also know that there are jobs out there for people willing to work. I own a business now and it amazes me how apathetic the generations behind me are, 99% of you suck, don’t know what a hard days work is, and all you want to do is drink and go to shows. I’m constantly hiring, and firing.
I work my ass off to keep the north capitol hill home I own warm and cozy. Everything I have I worked for, nobody has given me shit. No little spoiled trustafarian is going to come to my hood and fuck it up. Most of us who actually grew up here, in this very neighborhood are the same way. We all work, because we didn’t have shit growing up.
The SPD needs to RE-READ the Constitution.
It says, we have a right to PEACEFULLY assemble to address our grievances. It says NOTHING about LAWFULLY assemble.
I hope they get sued. An effing SWAT team deployed to arrest peaceful protesters? I, for one, just called the Chief of Police and told him I would be buying a tent and camping out on the effing sidewalk in front of his house, and there’s not a damn thing he can do about it. EFF YOU, Diaz!
Thanks Occupy for wasting SPD’s time and resources on your dumb trespassing bs. I wonder how much the bill will be for this fiasco?
And I don’t want to hear about how you’re being tossed out into the cold streets. Seattle has so many homeless resources and the severe weather shelters have been open since October! The homeless have access to beds and food in various spots throughout downtown. City Hall, The Frye Apartment Building, Union Gospel Mission, Bread of Life Mission, YMCA/YWCA, the list goes on and on. Don’t even try to make this into the ‘yuppies’ and SPD wanting to kick out homeless people.
Saves money on training and give real world experience.
Peacefully assemble after breaking and entering? I’m all confused. The right to peacfully assemble does not preclude basic criminal law and property rights.
You are obviously ignorant of everything going on in the country right now. It is so deeply corrupted today that big change is a necessity. Sure, the protests may cause some problems like noise. Big deal. And 90% of the time when something bad like drugs or fighting happens, it is 1 person in the entire group making a bad decision. Was the civil rights movement all nice and quiet and did it obey the rules and just give up when they were atta ked? No. And because of that we now have (supposed) equality between all people. Go ahead and stay inside your nice little bubble cut off from the real world. Things are changing and hopefully someday you will understand that.
peacefully assemble is not break and enter private property. peacefully assemble is normally reserved for public space. Like, say, a community college campus. Once you left there and broke laws to Occupy, the cops took the correct response and removed you.
And most of the rest of us 99% ers agree with the action the cops took, because unlike you, we understand how protests are supposed to work. By definition, a protest is a public property action, because you are protesting the action of the state.
Unless you were protesting specifically the action of the property owner at 10th and Union, you had no business being on his or her property, plus you broke laws to gain access to his building.
How freaking dumb are you punks anyway. Seriously, did any of you graduate high school much less take any classes in college? You’re an embarrassment to the cause you claim to represent.
I lived next door to Summit and Denny Way during WTO 10 yrs ago. After one week of WTO protesters occupying an empty building, there were piles of trash in the alley, graffiti everywhere, and broken windows in several buildings next to the one I lived in.
I lived near what had been a homeless squat at Belmont and Republican. Police refused to go in there chasing a wanted felon, because of the toxic waste inside the house. It had been a homeless squat for about 2 years prior, including had a fire when homeless cold kids lit something to try and stay warm.
Had the police removed the dumb out of town / out of the neighborhood squatters in either case early on, none of the later problems would have happened.
I credit police with taking appropriate action this time, removing people who are trespassing is needed the sooner the better. Otherwise, it turns into a biohazard site, with everything from used syringes to potential fire damage and more. It turns into a haven for criminals to hide out. It turns into a problem for the entire block if it isnt checked and checked fast. I have seen it first hand.
You are unwelcome squatters that damage buildings then act like its your right. IT IS NOT YOUR RIGHT TO DAMAGE PRIVATE PROPERTY, NOR IS IT YOUR RIGHT TO DAMAGE THE AREA BY LIVING LIKE A NOMADIC TRIBE OF LAWLESS, ILLITERATE HUMANS. And don’t act so damn entitled and surprised when people call you on it. Did your mother never in her entire life tell you “No” ? Why is it only now you are breaking other peoples’ boundaries and finding out there’s consequences? This should have been a lifes lesson by early adolescence. Unless you’re 12 or 13, you really have some catching up to do with regard to how the world views your actions.
So this really met the “new” criteria for deploying the SWAT team? Snipers, and all that..
I have a friend who was the “on call” for deploying a state police swat team. The criteria were very specific, and it was a last resort.
It’s amazing how much police response this minor stuff gets, when people in the community can’t get the police to respond. I mean, I can’t even get the cops to remove a bum passed out on a bench in westlake, who is urinating on himself and the bench.
All of you are quite welcome to your opinions that we OWS protesters are criminals, or annoyances, or jobless bums. You are welcome to marginalize us, ignore us, and call us powerless nuisances.
You can cheer while we are arrested and beaten and teargassed.
While you are doing that, we will be changing the world.
Keep telling yourselves that, you sound like religious nuts at this point.
I’ve been living here since the 1890′s. Me and my sisters used to eat dirt with the remaining natives because we had nothing. But I pulled myself up by the bootstraps and opened a sarsaparilla joint on Broadway. Best soda you ever had. I made my own way, never asked for nothing. Then, at the age of 40 or so, the 1% caused the world economy to crash and I had to eat dirt again, only there weren’t any natives cuz the government had moved them to camps. Spent most of the depression broke. But then after the war i pulled myself up by the boostraps again and opened a soda fountain. Even made sandwhiches. Man, were they good. What with all the death and war, the 50s sure was a bustling time. Sold a lot of soda. Things were good till the oil emargoe and the 80′s, when that old devil Reagan started his watchmacallit where capitalists could do whatever they wanted. Made the little guy suffer. Lost the soda fountain round 1984. But by 1996 I was back on top, had a computer company that made software for soda fountains. There I was, pulled up by my boot straps, until 2000. But luckily I cashed out and started buying houses. Now I got five of them sitting empty in the CD, can’t make a penny off them, wish I could sell them and buy a soda fountain again. Anyway, I never had nothing and worked for everything I have.
Good job, SPD. Let those twerps eat dirt. You aint like the nazis. dont let no one tell you that. i worked, god damn it, so im right. sorry if i dont type so good. long live capitalism.
And this comment thread is a treat as well. Nicely done, readers.
No you aren’t.
You aren’t changing the world in any way except getting yourselves thrown in jail for the stupidest of reasons, and making most people hate you.
Tell me about it. I been here 5x longer than you, so I know the type. Want to go get some machetes and cut off their heads? How about we bust out the rifles and go ashooting? Let show em how we long time residents of the hill settle things. Freedom! USA! SPD!
@guyfawkes
from the aclu:
“The right of free expression is not an absolute right to express ourselves at any time, in any place, in any manner. For example, we do not necessarily have a right to hold a large rally at midnight outside a hospital. While we may have the right to march in a parade or on a city street, we may not have the right to decide the exact time or route. The government has the authority to make reasonable restrictions on the time, place, and manner of certain speech activities if there is a compelling reason to do so.”
and this under “Speech Not Protected by the Constitution” on the aclu’s website:
“Broadly speaking, we are free to communicate our ideas but not to encourage immediate crimes.”
trespassing on someone’s private property is a crime and not constitutionally protected speech.
Friends;
I would not blame chief Diaz. I am not sure, but my guess is the orders for a SWAT team and all the SPD and a Fire truck too, came from MUCH higher up. I would bet it was the wealthy business people who are the folks who plan to demolish and re-build at 10th and Union, who probably have influence at the Mayor’s office, and quite possibly much higher up. Face it, folks, nationwide and worldwide also, the wealthy are trying to nix the occupy movements. They are afraid of a groundswell of public opinion on the side of “occupiers”, who are addressing serious problems in the worldwide economic and political situation. More later…gotta go to support my friends the arrestees.
Loudmouth Karaoke Brad
5%: They don’t care. Doesn’t matter how hard anyone works for what they have. The public education system was designed to produce workers from the beginning. But even that objective has become so corrupted in the last 30 years that we have a workforce that can’t produce anything. The private schools are not in any better shape because they can’t use teaching materials not approved by the state.
If any of you “kids” out there take exception to my last statement, go find yourself a 6th grade McGuffey reader. It would be considered university level reading by today’s standards.
120 years-
You sound like s survivor, bitter and angry, but a survivor.
Why not let the next generation search for their future? It is a mess out there for them.
They ask NOTHING from you in person, and I know you know the system is presently fucked.
You are on the wrong side. Nothing you have is at stake, nothing.
Cold winter night, raid cost hundreds of thousands, not needed this way at all. And sir, they might show up at your house, you mention you are a minority – where does the police state mentality always strike in KKK America …
120yr, typed on your iPad2 that you got your grandma to buy you, “because I need to take notes in class!” Just remember, the world needs ditch diggers. Keep working out, because there’s a generation behind you, raised by us, the working stiffs, that aren’t going to coddle you like your boomer parents did. They will take the jobs and work their ass off and you will be working the line at 40, for them, wondering how you got into this mess you’re in. Wishing you didn’t blow the 25k you got from grandma on an ipad2 and a couple classes at the same community college you’re now “occupying”.
Great Job SPD! Glad we’re finally on the way to getting this trash out of our city! : )
alexjon: The “movement” publicly states a bunch of demands and reasons for being, and then performs the most baffling actions that run counter to the stated goals. This has many people scratching their heads and concluding the “movement” is a bunch of idiots or spoiled children.
It is and it isn’t.
The useful idiots you see in the park and the street are being coordinated to do what they’re doing from afar. In all the cities at the same time they are being directed in phases. I think it was AJ that mentioned a bit of history in a post above. This is very similar as to what happened in the 1930’s except this time there are so many issues at play there is no way to stop them. Theses idiots are going to be sacrificed by the real power behind the “movement” when the public outcry gets to a high enough level. It’s unfortunate, but now the game is to chase them from place to place and burn through the Police budget. Again, while I don’t agree with many things AJ has written, he warned to be careful of what you wish for regarding the government response. He’s correct, but our city is unique in the fact that our Mayor is who he is – so who knows what type of response the Police will be allowed to provide. I am not going to be surprised at all if a public apology is issued again to the “movement”.
I would like to point out that some of Occupy Seattle members have actually received the benefits of redistribution of wealth that they stated they want so much. The public’s money is now being used to house the members in a high rise downtown, they have been provided clean clothing, showers, medical attention, and are now being fed three square meals a day. It’s the socialist utopia that we hard working folks affectionately refer to as “jail”.
Oh, and the reason they are in the CD area and SCCC was to target a particular demographic and hopefully get more people to join in causing more city and county resources to be spent.
I would like to say THANK YOU to SPD (with help from SFD) for enforcing the law. OS was trespassing on private property. A note of appreciation on waiting until after the Pike/Pine bars and resturants had closed. Allowing the streets to clear before moving in lowered the possible risk to others not involved in the illegal occupation by OS.
I own a small business in the neighborhood and have been dealing with a major increase in graffiti these last 5 weeks including OS stuff as well as getting my windows scratched. I have also had people claiming to be OS in my store looking for cash donations and asking my customers for money. Enough already! Quit hurt small business and trashing our neighborhood.
Let a 1000 building be occupied! Change requires radical action. There has never been, nor will there ever be any systemic change without resistance. That is the lesson of history.
Of course, the world is watching:
WASHINGTON — The United Nations envoy for freedom of expression is drafting an official communication to the U.S. government demanding to know why federal officials are not protecting the rights of Occupy demonstrators whose protests are being disbanded — sometimes violently — by local authorities.
Frank La Rue, who serves as the U.N. “special rapporteur” for the protection of free expression, told HuffPost in an interview that the crackdowns against Occupy protesters appear to be violating their human and constitutional rights.
“I believe in city ordinances and I believe in maintaining urban order,” he said Thursday. “But on the other hand I also believe that the state — in this case the federal state — has an obligation to protect and promote human rights.”
“If I were going to pit a city ordinance against human rights, I would always take human rights,” he continued.
La Rue, a longtime Guatemalan human rights activist who has held his U.N. post for three years, said it’s clear to him that the protesters have a right to occupy public spaces “as long as that doesn’t severely affect the rights of others.”
In moments of crisis, governments often default to a forceful response instead of a dialogue, he said — but that’s a mistake.
“Citizens have the right to dissent with the authorities, and there’s no need to use public force to silence that dissension,” he said.
“One of the principles is proportionality,” La Rue said. “The use of police force is legitimate to maintain public order — but there has to be a danger of real harm, a clear and present danger. And second, there has to be a proportionality of the force employed to prevent a real danger.”
What a waste of the tax payers money and a waste of the police/SWAT time. I wonder how much money has the city wasted messing with the protesters? They’re just trying to exercise their rights. But I guess rights don’t really mean that much in America anymore.
TimmyG–people are putting up sticker art in your neighborhood. gee that’s tough man. me-I don’t eat the dead flesh of animals so don’t care for the smell of burning flesh coming from restaurants. And I don’t like being ordered around by corporations so refuse to get a Safeway or QFC card yet i ahve to look attheir huge lit up signs all the time. Do you have a business sign up that I am compeeld to look at? Where is it? I’d like to come by and clean up that eye sore.
The rest of you believe everything your corporate controlled media and government tell you and never question anything. You are angry and begrudge the pathetic and desperate lives you live, but you don’t question-you don’t offer any resistance–and you hate anyone who does. You are jealous and bitter; you are pathetic sheeple.
blah blah blah
Fuck the UN & fuck the “occupy” bowel movement.
You trip over needles? Needles are like a millimeter thick! That’s embarrassing.
There’s no reasoning with religious zealots, and thats what Occupy has turned into.
Xavier thinks if we disagree with him we must be cops.
Typical idiot punk protester noise.
Are you one of the gutter punks who attacked the guy holding the “Occupy Somewhere Else” sign? Typical of your religious zealotry. If you don’t agree then you must be one of THEM and must be destroyed.
You are no better than the police, my dear young deluded friend.
Murder and mayhem in the South
End abounds, Danny Vega and his very recent death by beating is but the tip of many such recent incidents of name calling, robbery, and threats.
And.
Squatting for a few hours on the Hill in a totally empty tear down building. Where does all the police money and BIG time action go?
Every poster here knows the answer, and should wonder why. That same police show in the South End could help prevent another killing, with real violent crime rampant …. it didn’t happen, did it.
Of course not. I am getting confused, does the mayor run the cops or are the cops running the city?
I wasn’t aware that breaking and entering was a right. Very interesting.
Nothing happened at UC Davis. Sprayed with tomato juice.
People have to be cleared from closed down structured for liability purposes. The building owner’s insurance company and the SPD would possibly be on the hook for injuries (even if they are trespassing) to any squatters if they were known to be there, and allowed to squat.
The system of law in the US is the best in the world, but not without its flaws.
“The streets” have spoken!
Looks like SPD 70 OS 0…..
CH Wins!
Thank U Boys in Blue!
What a Burk…
Of course tresspassing IS NOT a right… Here or anywhere…
Fat high and stupid is no way to go through life boy….
Friends;
Greetings from Loudmouth Karaoke Brad. I am a 64 year old non-camping seattleoccupier. I was at the 10th and Union site much of the time from 6:45 PM until I got too tired about 1:00 AM. We had a nice party, with a live band and dancing, and we cleaned up the place a bit. We spray painted a few significant messages on some of the inner and outer walls. We did not know that the building was scheduled for imminent demolition. Everthing we did was geared toward improving the world economically and politically; or just plain having fun on a beautiful, moonlit Friday night on beautiful Capitol Hill in our wonderful city of Seattle.
I personally do not blame SPD police chief Diaz for calling the SWAT team. I doubt very much if he was doing anything other than following orders from Mayor McGinn. Quite probably, wealthy people behind the scenes who are involved in the real estate project at 10th and Union; and possibly politicians higher up in State or Federal government; were the real ones calling the shots. Face it, folks, the 1% super-wealthy in this country (and other countries worldwide) are clearly trying to crush the OCCUPY movement, BECAUSE THEY KNOW, DEEP DOWN IN THEIR HEARTS, that THEY ARE GREATLY RESPONSIBLE for the SEVERE ECONOMIC and POLITICAL mess that the whole world is in, but they would rather not be reminded of it every day. They are afraid of losing some of their billions and trillions of dollars, because THEY KNOW WE ARE RIGHT!!! They also know that fixing things is going to cost a lot of money!! And many of them have their hearts in the right place, and want to help out, with their time, ideas, and money. But too many folks, rich and poor alike, are not really aware, (or are in denial of) the severe problems we face. Often, in my opinion, it is because people are rather easily influenced…(should I say “brainwashed”??), by the major media, which has been lying to us for many, many decades. I am sure many people actually believe that FOX NEWS, for instance, is really “Fair and Balanced”. If you say it repeatedly thousands of times, most people eventually succumb to the brainwashing of that propaganda. BUT THAT DOES NOT MAKE IT TRUE, and CLEARLY, IT IS NOT TRUE, in MY (not so humble…LOL) OPINION!!!
A couple examples, before I go to visit my jailed friends.
1) were we “looking for weapons of mass destruction” when we invaded IRAQ in 2003??? Answer is: NO, that was a lie and cover story to build political support, through the propagandistic use of fear, for A WAR FOR PROFITS for BIG OIL!! ( And possibly to help keep Israel safer, but I think OIL is the main reason. Read Greg Palast’s “Armed Madhouse” for a more detailed analysis).
2)Did we mainly invade Afghanistan to get revenge and reduce the power of Al Quaeda?? Answer is NO. Google “U.S. House of Representatives Feb 12th, 1998 subcommittee hearing on Asian affairs”. You will find that a conglomerate headed by Union Oil of California recommended, 3 years and 7 months BEFORE 9-11-2001, that the U.S. use its “influence” to get the Taliban government out, because they were not pro-western enough or considered stable enough to make it comfortable for Big Oil and Gas to build TWO pipelines through Afganistan to get the oil and gas bonanza of Central Asia out to a port in Pakistan, for later shipment to growing economies in Asia. To me, “influence” means “use military if necessary”. And that is the REAL REASON why we invaded Afghanistan. Once again… OIL and GAS PROFITS!!!
Gotta go now
Thanks for listening
Peace and Love
Loudmouth Karaoke Brad
Because it’s clear they again disgraced themselves this morning.
I guess they couldn’t find any octogenarians to pepper spray so they had some time on their hands.
Jesus “Street”…
I was actually on your side when you were talking about banks….
Now you are mad at my lunch meat and grocery stores????
As my great aunt used to say… Rave on shitbird, rave on…
Yeah, pepper spraying that 85 year old woman and the priest were real high quality, professional operations.
HA!
Friends;
Many people in this country, rich and poor alike, have very negative opinions of the “OCCUPY” movement. Us “occupiers” know this; we also know that a lot of the people are being influenced by very slanted media coverage. Face it, people, the vast majority of the major media in this country is owned by the upper class. When it is owned publicly, with average income people able to buy shares in the corporations who run the major media, it still is the case that those corporations cowtow to Big Business, because that is where a majoity of their advertising revenue comes from. (For example, Chase Bank often advertises in The New York Times, and many other newspapers). It does not take a genius to figure out that coverage of a demonstration against Chase Bank may be very slanted in favor of Chase and against “OCCUPY” groups. Based on the old dictum “you don’t bite the hand that feeds you”, there is inevitably an influence in that direction.
Here is another interesting example of slanted media coverage.
Accusations have been made that there is a “rodent” problem at the encampment at SCCC. I have spent about 3-5 hours a day there since Oct. 29th. I have never seen any rodents. I have not spoken to anyone who has acknowledged seeing any rodents. On the other hand, rodents are aggressive and tricky, having “OCCUPIED” planet earth for millions of years before humans came on the scene. So let’s say, that there ARE some rodents in the campground at SCCC. Rodents are ubiquitous throughout the world, in every large city, and in many many other areas. So the correct approach, it seems to me, IF THERE REALLY IS A BIG RODENT “PROBLEM” at SCCC,(which I doubt very much), CALL ANIMAL CONTROL!!…And also, GET THE YARD WASTE and RECYCLING containers installed at the campsite!! The large green ones with the lids that make it near impossible for rodents to gnaw through and eat from. Like almost everyone else in Seattle is legally required to do!!… But no, that’s not being done. The media are just blowing a story out of proportion for the sake of sensationalism and to try to discredit the “occupy” movement. I would be willing to bet, that if the right cameras were set up on Mayor McGinn’s yard, a few rodents would be found at some point. For some reason, however, there is no push for the Mayor to be evicted. And I am sure that if he did have a rodent problem, there would be no call to evict HIM!!
The 1% rich folks, at least the ones who are not trying to help, the ones who are just barricading themselves behind triple layers of security gates and doors and listening to Fox News, had better just realize that us “OCCUPIERS” are NOT GOING HOME and GIVING UP!! NOT on YOUR LIFE!!…So, PLEASE, PRETTY PLEASE, at least CONSIDER, giving us a hand, instead of just ruthlessly trying to crush us with your superior firepower and your biased media propaganda. BECAUSE IT AIN’T GONNA WORK! NO WAY, BABY, NO WAY!!!
Thanks for Listening
Peace and Love
Loudmouth Karaoke Brad
BRING BACK THE DIE YUPPIE SCUM CAMPAIGN FROM THE 90′s !!!
They are still developing and inundating this previously colorful, independent, diverse, liberal, and creative HILL!
So, as a 23 year+ Capitol Hill resident, worker and creative community member – I support these and MANY more Tactical Civil Disobediences to come.
Stay tuned™
So I have a right to your property? Great, let me know where you live. Leave the door open, I’ll take your stuff quickly. Will give it to the first hobo I see.
Try a little focus in your rants.
“I have never seen any rodents.”
What about the one video video taped pooping on the sidewalk:
youtu.be/hN_qPu6EuXw
Those were from the 80s and the yuppies are now in their 30s and 40s, so no long ‘Young’.
Why don’t you move to Skyway where the rent is cheaper?
Fucking hilarious. Thanks for the laugh. Software for soda fountains lol.
So you’re camping illegally outside a community college that doesn’t want you, on a lawn that isn’t equiped to house 100 people, and you expect the college to provide you with adequate services? Their only responsiblity is to accomodate the students that are PAYING tuition. Are you paying your way? No? Then why should a school thhat has faced multiple 15-30% budget cuts (which you argue against-as do I) go above and beyond and use their already stretched resources to facilitate your squatting? Get real.
The whole point of the media is that it is not owned publicly, if by “publicly” you mean the publicly funded government. I’d leave the talking points to some of your brethren.
Oh still harping on that ol’ story? That’s long been forgotten – ‘cept by you clearly. You’ve had a hard day of it at the keyboard. Go get some fresh air.
I’ve seen people camping in the doorways of that building with shopping carts nearby. Wayyyyyy before Occupy Seattle was on the hill I’ve seen needles around that building. For what it’s worth, I think there is a needle exchange or methadone clinic about a block toward Ihop.
It’s not really as simple as you state. I’m not even a cop or government employee so it’s not my job to know where homeless people squat or sleep due to potential liability suits against the city **BUT** even I knew this place has been a spot for people to sleep for over two years. Even way back when the high-end Ferrari/Lambo/BMW/Benz/Maseratti used sports car store was across the street homeless people have been sleeping on or around the property of this building.
So unless the SPD and mayor’s office are totally out of the know, they’ve known homeless people squat here way before Occupy existed.
You guys really support a police state?
Move to Russia
I was there last night and the police behaved far better than usual. Despite the guns, at least I wasn’t pepper sprayed while standing on the sidewalk. They simply followed standard procedure. Cheers to them, honestly. There are a lot of problems with occupy, but finding shelter for homeless people is not one of them. Protection from the elements, building community, and peaceful protesting are not the things the police should be going after. The police should be helping us deal with the problems at the SCCC encampment such as drugs, violence, vandalism, and theft. They should be here to serve us and the community. If resources are limited, dangerous crime should take precedence over peaceful crime. While the police were preventing people from getting a good nights sleep, pushers were selling meth and heroin at SCCC. We would love to work with the police to help make our encampment safer and help make the surrounding community safer. We don’t have the resources to deal with the drugs and crime that flooded SCCC and we would really love to work cooperatively with the police to address these problems. From those I’ve talked to, the rank and file cops understand most of us occupiers would like to work cooperatively with them to address the problems at SCCC. No one becomes a cop to protect property before people, but under threat of arrest they have to follow orders. Unfortunately the occupy movement threatens the power of those making the orders, and thus property comes before people and enforcing the crime of occupying comes before any other crimes. Every activity we do could potentially be seen as criminal, but those in charge of the police need to get their priorities straight regarding what crimes they should respond to.
The occupation is far from perfect, but we are willing to grow and learn. The police should likewise acknowledge their faults and then grow and learn as well. Nobody is perfect, but that doesn’t mean shouldn’t keep trying to be.
Welcome to the movement we may not be educated in the way of brown nosing our way up I speak for myself I just want to work the chance to provide for my kids and not to have millions capitalist make me sick more for me more for me less for them and is this not the greed that we all tire of how is it that you can speak bad about these ppl from me I don’t care how hard you worked to get where you are because someone had to give you the oppurtunity to work well everywhere I go now either they have their family working for them or they got hundreds of applications for one position we only want a fair oppurtunity to live and not worry about the gas tank the nilk use cause we can’t get more milk can’t afford more gas prices going up pay going down and yet you feel comfortable in your warm house with the lights on getting your family not only what they need but also what they want while I can’t even spare five dollars for a christmas gift for my two sons not that I don’t want to work or can’t I work hard I learn fast and do as I am told why is it that I have to go without the ability to provide for my family was I born to the wrong parents or do I just not kiss the right persons ass
Very intrespective, let me recap:
Your folks last night SPIT ALL OVER the cops you want to dialogue with!
You people are out of your minds!
Do you actually see dragons and rainbows when you are camping on these 35 degree nights?
When the idiot Trotsky brigade has come right home here!
Icepicks for everyone.
And facist clampdowns in response.
Oh yes, achievement in college is just sucking up to the rich. Why wasn’t I smart enough to drop out and make babies first I can’t afford, then demand everyone else help pay for them? Stupid me. I wish I were smart like the Occupy people, who attacked someone who disagreed with them last night, or who spit on cops after they trespassed, or who think breaking laws is fine because society owes you.
Hey Thomas, If you want people to not fall asleep or skip over your diatribes, I would suggest punctuation. Just a little.
Philly: ROFL! Well said!
upd: Punctuation is not part of the new world order. Only hand twinkles.
When they have been clearing the Occupy squatter sites, who have left tons of garbage, dirty needles, human waste, etc they have also been leaving behind cameras, video cameras, cellphones, televisions, you name it. Along with all this, these Occupiers are being given tents, sleeping bags, food, and money.. the amount of money in their corporate bank accounts in Wells Fargo has exceeded $490,000. due to donations. These people are not the poor people so many think they are and are certainly not the representatives of the 99% their whining rants claim them to be. So all this crap about how they represent the poor and abandoned in society is just that, a bunch of crap. They are self-entitled losers who should have their parents held responsible for their excesses, thefts, breaking the law with drug use, muggings and more.
Protests and the constitutional right to protest and voice our opinions are one thing. The Occupiers are not protesting, they are living tax-free off the 99% of us who have to keep working while watching our tax-money which is already dwindling for city and state budgets go to putting up with their stopping us from getting to work, being with our families, going about our business of living as best we can and thinking they are living in a police state all because cities have finally had it with their juvenile drum-beating, screaming, destroying property, whining and being losers in society when it’s hard enough just living and getting by these days.
I say arrest them and then demand they pay back the cities for every cent they caused us to have to pay out because of their crap they have caused the real 99% of us.
Why move to Russia:
What you wrote has to be one of the scariest things I’ve read in this thread. I’m very worried how bad this will get before they really have to crack down on these people. The nation wide “occupy a foreclosure” starts 12/6 and the “block a port” for 12/12 is just the beginning.
What is your goal? I’ve noticed several of your methods ( breaking and entering, squatting, holdin up traffic, smoking pot and drinking alcohol, etc…) yet i don’t see how these things are helping me. More importantly i don’t see how this will help Americans as a whole. I get the impression there’s not a lot of financial support for occupy, so why arent you busy in your camps making shirts, literature, petitions, etc… so that you can spread your cause more effectively to the masses? Americans are ignorant unfortunately, they need you to educate them not disrupt their lives, cause when u do one without the other theyre just gonna get upset and turn on you. I was once a strong supporter, but im getting close to defecting. :(
@SU “We would love to work with the police to solve the problems at the SCCC encampment.”
Really?
It might be helpful for you to look through numerous GA minutes when the GA adamantly took the stance that *no one* in OS would ever call police for anything happening in the camp because a) the police were presumed to be the enemy, b) solidarity was the highest calling, and c) the movement would take care of itself, mostly just by talking to offenders and reasoning with them.
I don’t know who you are speaking for, but the GA has taken exactly the opposite stance. Over and Over.
Agreed, Gus. Great coverage by the CHS blog. Best Occupy coverage in the city. Good work!
Did the 1% take all the full stops too?
Nevermind rodents can transmit all sorts of nasty diseases and parasites to humans, especially dirty overcrowded human “settlements”. Gross. Or is this just more government propaganda?
http://www.cdc.gov/rodents/diseases/
Uh, no. 80′s yuppies are now well into their 50′s…
Society owes you nothing. If you can’t afford your kids is it my fault you stuck your pecker where it didn’t belong? Did you not know where babies came from? Is this too my fault? I didn’t get to partake in the making of the baby, why should I pay for the consequences?
There are farms all over the west coast where food dies on the vine simply because they can’t find workers to pick. Is this job beneath you? Instead of sitting on your ass drinking a 40 in a tent, why not volunteer somewhere? You could cook in a soup kitchen, you could volunteer down at the mission. Hell, there’s a lot of things that you can do to improve your situation. If all else fails, go to the military, not my first choice, but you probably made some bad turns on the road of life and this can limit your options.
the reason why they demolish buildings?
it’s a waste. they want to increase consumer spending, etc. so people will have to occupy every use-able building and they will have come around like bullies and knock them all over.
Once again another window broken out at The Chase Branch on Broadway n Thomas.
to the people against, we’ve heard your arguments – more than you have. it’s not difficult to see why you oppose. aside from your reasons – you are a class that owns land, businesses, and you are “struggling” to survive the structural change from a never-ending boom/bust cycle. i am afraid for my life if there is another “boom” cycle. what will be left on earth for them to exploit but ourselves. you are angry at people who do not own land, homes, and to you it is our fault. but we are always in business – for ourselves. even your own jobs are scarce, yet, you denounce us as the ones to blame for the lack of these “jobs”. it is not our fault. no more than slaves were to blame for the civil war.
why am i typing this message. the only people who get this are people who already know this. there is only one language you seem to be capable of “understanding” – actions.
That photo of the stunned grandmotherly 85-year-old right after Seattle cops pepper sprayed her in the face ain’t going nowhere. It’s already achieved “iconic” status, as they say. An instant classic of police brutality.
SPD’s uh, “professionalism” then put Seattle at the top of the news, all around the world — not in a good way. Personally, I’d be quite happy if that were the end of it, but I’m afraid it won’t be. There’s just too much SPD idiocy itching to get out. Like this morning’s roof entry into the warehouse. You gotta be shitting me! Can’t you just picture those clowns dressed up like Spaceballs stormtroopers, rappelling into a warehouse full of kids?
The hits just keep on coming.
Proudhon – have you really truly ‘labored’ ever in this life? Typical mindset…Take take take, Gimme Gimme Gimme…What is mine is not yours, it’s mine. period. I will fight to the death protecting that freedom.
yep, I see it daily and thank GOD for SPD for the shit they have to deal with every, single day.
payback lol
Cry me a river. That senior woman and the priest were breaking the law and not following reasonable police direction. They deserved what they got.
I’m sick of the protestors using the image of an old woman pepper sprayed to claim police brutality. You break the law, then you get the consequences.
Everyone here seems to be assuming that the police action Friday night cost extra money for the taxpayers….maybe, maybe not. Isn’t it possible that the officers involved were just working their normal shift? Does deployment of a SWAT team actually mean more costs in overtime? And, if there are additional costs, doesn’t the City have am emergency fund in the budget for things like this?
That said, if this action actually did cost us taxpayers more money, I will gladly pay it. Thanks again, SPD!!
Yes, thanks again SPD!
(I just read the thread and it appears the SCCC tent that has the generator and the 10 year old powerbook must have blown a fuse last night!)
And the Police department will complain that their budget is running out. Gee, I wonder why? At this point I am supporting occupations everywhere, not because of illegal activity, but the focus of the message that the occupiers want to have made public. The police, by showing up with that much armor, fire power, a small army, really, to handle 25 UNARMED nonviolent KIDS??? WTF. It’s the message that is dangerous to the monied interests that the police are trying to stamp out for the 1%. Sorry kiddos, the cat is out of the bag, and Occupation is moving into the neighborhoods. We’re bringing the banks down. Game over.
If I have copied this photo right, you can see the silencer on the end of the barrel of the rifle this officer is carrying. Shame on the SPD for bringing lethal weaponry. You guys know we are carrying no weapons other than our minds and the desire to be free of the banks and predatory lending and other practices that make us economic slaves.
It is as simple as I state. Common knowledge must be proven in court, and you aren’t going to prove SPD knew – they would never admit it.
Anyway, your point doesn’t matter due to the state’s observation of joint and several liability. If someone was to get hurt, the land owner, the insurance company, and the SPD gets sued, and everyone pays up to the point of making the injured whole – with the insurance company and SPD likely taking the brunt of the financial load.
There is no way the SPD turns a blind eye to a large group of squatters taking over a building in this manner – especially when it’s documented in the Seattle times. If they did overlook it, and someone got hurt, the SPD would be D.O.A. in court. If somebody died in a fire, etc, the Chief’s job would be in jeopardy due to the cost of the settlement alone. He’s not going to let that happen.
How do they ‘know’ this without a doubt? Should they just take you and the anarchists word for it after you spit at them and taunt them? Yah, no.
Bob, in this case, you don’t know what you are talking about. I was there, across the street, watching. Most, if not all, of the people against whom the Seattle police used their chemical weapons at the corner of 5th and Pine had already moved out of the street. They were just standing on the sidewalk watching. If I remember correctly, Dorli was never in the street with the jaywalking demonstrators. Please don’t continue to spread misinformation.
Your mind is your weapon? Maybe you should load it.
Additionally, Bob, don’t you suppose that the correct response to alleged violation of the law is arrest and prosecution, not assault and battery? Those officers were not in danger. Dousing peaceful demonstrators with chemical agents was completely inappropriate.
Hey Guy! You use your imagination a lot don’t you? I’ll bet your favorite movie, is hmmm, let’s see… V for Vendetta? (Do you picture yourself as “V” or Evie?) At any rate do you ever think your a character in that movie? Wow you must have a lot of fun with your rich and colorful imagination…. Tweedle-dee!
The remarkable effect of Occupy on the American political conversation was demonstrated again this evening when 60 Minutes devoted about 45 of those minutes to “Prosecuting Wall Street,” their expose on unpunished investment banking fraud on Wall Street.
From the 60 Minutes introduction:
“Two whistleblowers offer a rare window into the root causes of the subprime mortgage meltdown. Eileen Foster, a former senior executive at Countrywide Financial, and Richard Bowen, a former vice president at Citigroup, tell Steve Kroft the companies ignored their repeated warnings about defective, even fraudulent mortgages. The result, experts say, was a cascading wave of mortgage defaults for which virtually no high-ranking Wall Street executives have been prosecuted.”
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-57336042/prosecuting-w
The anti-Occupy douchebags can say what they want about Occupy’s supposed ineffectivness, but this 60 Minutes story puts the lie to that. In less than three months, Occupy has pushed the crimes of the 1% into the spotlight. That in itself is a extraordinary accomplishment. The American people cannot take action to right Wall Street abuses until they know about them. Because of Occupy, Americans are becoming aware of Wall Street’s criminality and its undue influence over US government policy.
Congratulations, Occupy! Well done. Again.
I know right? And locally – it’s gaining even more coverage!
http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Occupy-Seattle-faces-a-cr
The 60 Minutes story was about Wall Street bankers committing fraud and walking away. Because 60 Minutes is so widely viewed, it’s a huge win for Occupy. But as that KOMO story shows, people are interested in Occupy itself.
From the perspective of this blog, that interest is evinced by the high hit counts and comment numbers for CHS coverage of Occupy Seattle.
Even as the anti-Occupy whiners moan and groan, they’re still contributing their tiresome efforts — I mean, tireLESS efforts — to the buzz about the movement. Similarly, each police attack, like the one in this story, serves to keep Occupy visible and spread its message.
There’s no such thing as bad publicity. As OW put it, “The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.”
Seriously. Those patrol cars don’t have toilets. Yikes.
Good riddance to bad trash – now only anarchists and other freeloaders
“We’re bringing the banks down. Game over.”
You’re delusional.
I carefully watched the video, Phil. Several warnings were issued to move to the sidewalk, and they were ignored by some in the intersection. Finally, pepper spray was used on those ignoring the police order. Those who were on the sidewalk then were not intentionally pepper-sprayed….but probably they were affected, because they were still very close to those still in the intersection.
Yes, you were there, but sometimes video shows more accurately what actually happened. You see what you wanted to see.
Well, at least he admits to being a “loudmouth.”
There is no way a camp like that, with a significant number of illegal drug users (that’s why the dealers are there…duh!), could be made safe, whether you work with the police or not. Besides, it is now a moot point, because the camp will be gone within days.
“Street” is the one. I imagine that most every protestor is like this one. Did you every think that you are accessing the internet through a business, sending your message on a device made by a business, and posting some insane rant on a website hosted by one business and run by another. If you hate corporations so much, stay off the internet and take your rant to the soapbox where they belong. The soapbox was also made by a company though.
Breaking and entering is an actual crime. It’s a felony.
Instead of posting something on the internet in defense of criminal activity, think of all the things you could be doing instead: working on that great but evasive granola combination, buying a tapestry with a picture of Bob Marley and/or an arabesque design, letting a dog run amok being it’s “smarter than normal dogs”, or fashioning a Guy Fawkes mask out of the back of a cereal box (like Fawkes’ gunpowder plot, OS will fail. Way to brand yourself with the winning team).
Your delusions of grandeur are cute, but I doubt it took a “call from higher up” to get SWAT out there. SPD was likely very aware that this was an anarchist event, and given how past confrontations with you people have played out, they dressed appropriately.
You asked for the SWAT response with your history. Quit acting surprosed.
Cops dressed up like stormtroopers from Spaceballs are the winning team?? Yikes.
But you know which team scored a big win last night? Occupy, with the lengthy segment on 60 Minutes about widespread Wall Street banking fraud and the shocking absence of prosecution following whistleblowers’ revelations.
That story would not have run without Occupy shifting the focus of the national conversation to Wall Street criminality and how the 1% routinely escape justice. Kids get busted for being in an abandoned warehouse slated for demolition, but greedy bankers can ruin 401(k)s, pension plans, and the US economy without fear of prosecution. Hell, they were rewarded with bonuses in the $millions, after their bad bets were covered by Uncle Sam. Meanwhile, regular Americans are losing their homes.
Instead of posting something on the internet in defense of SPD idiocy, think of all the things you could be doing, like cleaning and re-inflating your Ann Coulter blow up doll. You really had some hot fun last night, didn’t you, Johnny Blazay?
Right, Calhoun, the cops were great that night. Total professionals. That’s why the mayor apologized the next day.
“My Seattle, you are becoming like some place in Mississippi or Alabama. Sad.”
Seattle’s history has in it: running out the natives that lived here, Redling and other housing discrimination against African Americans, Jew’s, Japanese and some other folks, white only schools, placing Japanese Americans in interment camps and then stealing their homes and things, office space for the KKK and a handful of pro-Nazi groups prior to WWII, union members getting shot at and clubbed by police, more neo-nazi skinheads than you can shake a swastika at, gay men being beaten up for being gay, developmentally disabled children being barred from public schools….
It sounds to me like Seattle was just being Seattle.
Oops, I forgot to mention the blacklisting that went on in the 50′s and the Teen Dance Ordinance in the 80′s and the kids that got hit with billy clubs who were, I guess, guilty of the crime of being new-wave and being out late at night. Or the class warfare where the liberal elite looked down on ( and tried to price and zone them out of neighborhoods) the working class left that worked on fishing boats, in the ship yards, and at Boeing (solidarity my ass).
See, Seattle’s niceness and it’s vaulted liberalism is at best only skin deep.
To be clear, the Mayor apologized because he is spineless and was forced too politically, not because it reflects the opinion of the majority of contributing Seattle citizens. Your world is absolute fascinating to me.
Puh-leeze, upd, how do YOU know how the majority of “contributing” Seattle citizens feel about that lady getting pepper sprayed? I’d wager that most of them were outraged by it, and rightfully so. We don’t need bullies in police uniforms.
Anyway, police professionalism is never going to require an apology, whether the mayor is a member of the Chordate phylum or not.
My world is absolutely fascinating to you? Wonderful. It’s called “reality.” Feel free to inhabit it whenever you want. You can start right now!
“Yes, you were there, but sometimes video shows more accurately what actually happened. You see what you wanted to see.”
What I want to see is police reacting to suspected unlawful behavior by arresting people and putting them in front of a judge, not deploying chemical weapons on the suspects, then walking away.
You suggest that people on the sidewalk who were assaulted by police received this treatment because they were near people who were still jaywalking. 1) Do you really believe that’s acceptable? 2) Doesn’t this suggest that contrary to your former statement, Dorli may have been standing by, going about her lawful business, when the police assaulted her?
“The police didn’t intend to shoot those people on the sidewalk; they just happened to be nearby when the police were shooting at the people