(Images: CHS)
Using a heavy presence of uniformed officers on the street and with SWAT teams at the ready, Seattle’s East Precinct clamped down on an annual Pride weekend demonstration early Sunday morning, putting an end to the Capitol Hill march by hitting the crowd with pepper spray and taking six people into custody on E Madison.
All details at this point are preliminary and have not been confirmed with SPD. UPDATE: SPD’s report on the incident is below.
According to police radio, six people were taken into custody and transported to the East Precinct headquarters at 12th and Pine.
On a night when nearby streets were crowded with Pride beer gardens and thousands of revelers, a crowd of around 50 people marched onto E Pike and met a phalanx of Seattle police in riot gear in the 10th Ave intersection around 1a. In front and behind the police line, Pride celebrants wandered, took pictures and, sometimes, danced along with the group of dozens of protesters.
In 2011, a much larger group roamed Pike/Pine and Broadway inflicting damage to windows, cars and walls. We reported earlier that the East Precinct was prepared for a repeat of the event this year. The precinct had “an emphasis patrol operating also that will allow us to designate resources for developing situations,” a representative told CHS earlier this week.
Sunday morning, the group of 50 or so marched away from the SPD line at 10th and Pike with a heavy contingent of officers on foot and in cars following. The group again attempted to enter the Pike/Pine area near the Wildrose Pride party but was blocked by another line of police. The marchers headed back out and onto E Madison where SPD ordered the group out of the street and onto the sidewalk as SWAT vehicles arrived and blocked the group’s path near 13th Ave just between Pony and the Madison Pub.
As pushing and shoving broke out, police quickly deployed pepper spray on the crowd and several participants were wrestled to the ground and taken into custody.
Seattle Fire was was called to the precinct to treat at least four people for pepper spray exposure. Fire also was called to the scene at 13th and Madison later in the morning for another person who reported being sickened by the spray.
In 2011, CHS reported on a group of more than 100 hundred people dancing in the streets of Pike/Pine and on Broadway — as well as busting glass and tangling with police in riot gear. One person was arrested.
The 2012 response from SPD shut the event down without any reports of significant property damage. Earlier on Saturday, however, Seattle Fire responded to the Key Bank on 15th Ave E to deal with what we have been told was an attempt to damage the bank’s ATM.
Sunday morning’s arrests were the second time this week that East Precinct had moved quickly and decisively to remove a group of protesters from a Capitol Hill street. Wednesday, CHS reported on the arrest of one person as SPD shut down a march against student debt that refused to leave the street on Broadway.
UPDATE 6/24/12 7:15a — Here is video of the incident sent to CHS:
UPDATE 9:35a — And another starting in the midst of the conflict:
Way to ruin Pride, assholes. The cops, that is.
Pigs on every corner, watching our every move… so easy to feel “liberated” in this context. I was walking across the street when I saw the march coming… soon after, the cops are shoving people onto the sidewalk, shooting pepper spray for no discernible reason. What a fucking travesty.
enjoy your police state.
There’s a lot of detail missing, here. What law(s) were people suspected of violating when the police deployed chemical weapons and seized those people? The only violation Justin reported was people walking in the street. That’s hardly worthy of this response.
The usual pattern these days is our police officers introducing violence into otherwise-peaceful demonstrations. Nothing reported here suggests that last night’s incident was any different.
Justin wrote, “Wednesday, CHS reported on the arrest of one person as SPD shut down a march against student debt that refused to leave the street on Broadway.” Best I can tell, the only arrest made during that incident was when the police dragged someone off the sidewalk into the street. Why they sent the gang squad to a weekly demonstration by a group that explicitly disavows violence, one that included families with small children, is beyond me.
The thuggery of a fraction of SPD staff endangers not only the people who pay these civil servants’ six-figure salaries, but the rest of the force as well. As respect for police declines and resentment of them increases, policing becomes more dangerous. Those coworkers silently enforcing the blue wall of silence contribute to this endangerment.
I had to go to the store for a couple of bottles of wine, and I wasn’t followed by the police. I didn’t get thrown against a wall or pushed to the ground. I tempted fate and even retraced my steps to return home with bags in hand. Nothing I did drew any attention of the police. All the people I passed on Pine and Pike seemed for the most part to be enjoying their evening. I didn’t get pepper sprayed, nor did I see anyone else receive such treatment. I have walked down the street several times over the years and have not once been accosted by the SPD. In fact, the only time I see the police outside of one driving by is when they are responding to someone infringing upon the rights of another (shoplifting, car-prowling, vandalism). Do you think something might have happened in the past or recently that cause the police respond in that fashion to large groups of people wandering the streets in the dark?
It occurs to me that perhaps this group knew that several neighbors complained about traffic being blocked during another recent protest and decided to hold theirs when there was likely to be fewer cars on the street. So this could have been just a misunderstanding due to poor choice in timing. The police thought this group was a completely different group of idiots.
Here’s 15 minutes of video from last night:
. Onlookers don’t seem to be afraid of the suspects or pleased with the police response.
ERF, are you suggesting that police took out their aggression on this group due to the past actions of other people?
Correction – tens of thousands of Pride Party celebrants … and dozens of police in lines all around the annual celebration zone … beyond belief.
What is this message all about?
And arrested a person for protesting student debt problems? Is there anything more innocous out there? And, we all know IT IS a giant issue.
Thanks CHS, this is a very disturbing and bizarre report.
(Cost in overtime??)
I suppose you could infer that from what I wrote. However, since you asked directly, no.
ERF, you wrote, “The police thought this group was a completely different group of idiots.”
Of what significance should whom the police thought the group was have had on their response? The law is the law, regardless of who someone is.
Oops. I meant, “Of what significance was it?” or “What affect should it have had on their response?”
Yet another example of people who think they can do whatever they want (block the street, disobey lawful orders) and get away with it. As a Capitol Hill resident I am absolutely in favor of how the SPD reacted.
Richard: By “do whatever they want” did you mean to walk peacefully in the street as part of a political demonstration? Do you think that the use of chemical weapons is an appropriate response to such activity?
The result of suspected violation of law should be arrest and prosecution, not assault and battery.
I’m sorry, but I’m having difficulty believing the protesters actually don’t understand why they are receiving the response that they are.
I love the kid near the end of the video, off camera yelling “You’re not welcome here!” As a neighbor, business owner, tax payer, and local consumer I can say with pride, yes they are.
COME NOW … empty streets, late at night, long pride day steam … less that post football games …
20-30 overtime cops??
For what? The group walking around would have flamed out in an hour ..
Such an over reaction … and costly waste of police budget …
Phil,
No, I mean illegally block the street and ignore orders to move back to the sidewalk.
This wasn’t some peaceful “political” protest, just a bunch of intoxicated assholes looking to get dome attention. Well, they got it.
OH sure – wait for the momennt you get pepper sprayed in the face, dragged around for a bit, under arrest – assumed neighbor.
Richard, engaging in political demonstration by walking peacefully down the street is illegally blocking the street. As for your implication that people ignored orders to move to the sidewalk, please note that the Seattle Police have a history of using their chemical weapons on demonstrators after they move to the sidewalk as ordered. I witnessed it downtown last year (the incident during which Dorli Rainey was pepper sprayed). At the explicitly peaceful Student Noise Brigade march last Wednesday, the single arrest was of someone the police pulled off the sidewalk.
Why are you so quick to trust that these hot-heads did the right thing? The U.S. Department of Justice found that 20% of the time that SPD staff use force, it was done in an unconstitutional manner.
I apologize, I was trying to be clever and write sarcastically. You seem to have taken what I wrote as my honest perspective and want to have a debate over it. The premise of your argument is false since you refuse to acknowledge any reason at all for the SPD to be present let alone exist. So there is little reason or incentive for me to stand on a soap box since the possibility of swaying your view is non-existent regardless of how much reality is presented to you.
ERF, the premise of your argument was, “[I, Phil] refuse to acknowledge any reason at all for the SPD to be present let alone exist”. That is false.
Could you please explain what lead you to believe that police officers suspicion about who a group is (whatever that means) should affect their response to jaywalking?
“Could you please explain what lead you to believe that police officers suspicion about who a group is (whatever that means) should affect their response to jaywalking? “
Nope. I’m having coffee.
I reject that the two are mutually inclusive – one can engage in a political demonstration (by getting proper permits or staying down the sidewalk) that don’t cause them to be illegally blocking the street.
I also reject the idea that this was a “political demonstration” – it was just a bunch of intoxicated people that got sucked in by the mob mentality.
I am defending the SPD because I think they did the right thing. I have lived on the hill approaching a decade and am sick of the near-constant incidents of “anarchists” (who don’t even seem to know what anarchy means) and drunks that think they are providing the city and its people some kind of service by smashing windows and blocking public streets.
I hope the SPD continues to have little tolerance for it and pursues and prosecutes these assholes to the fullest possible extent of the law.
Right, being a business owner and consumer gives you more of a say.
Who exactly does this city belong to?
While the author of this piece decided to put in references to last year’s party and the broken windows that happened, some important details about that were left out. The reason that “mini-riot” started was because the police started bashing trans* folk on the hill, some of whom fought back. Its interesting that this is the second year in a row that SPD has bashed queer youth on capitol hill during Pride.
“Right, being a business owner and consumer gives you more of a say.”
Holy Cow, I must really be losing it if that is what people are getting out of my writing.
“Who exactly does this city belong to?”
That’s easy. Eastside Commercial Property Developers.
Richard, were you there last night? You seem quite confident about other people’s reasons for participating. Nobody except you has yet mentioned anarchists. Of what relevance should people’s political ideology be to the manner in which police respond to jaywalking?
I work near the baseball and football stadiums, and I can tell you with certainty that when hundreds of people block the street surrounding those stadiums before and after one of the big private events held there, the police do not react with violence. SPD’s attitude: “If you’re disrupting traffic for hours as part of a profit-making scheme: go ahead; we’ll stop cars for you. If you’re disrupting traffic for a few minutes to protest the actions of us, your government, then watch out, because we’re coming at you with batons and pepper spray.”
Great video except I kept waiting for the Honey Badger to show up.
Oh lord, now we’re going to bring in trans people and queer youth? Pretty soon it’s going to be physically challgened, blind, autistic, immigrant, missing an arm, trans youth of color. Come on. Stop wasting everyone’s time and money and flippin’ go to therapy and get your issues worked out somewhere else than in the streets and on society. Even if the cops are not fair (get used to it, life isn’t by the way) you guys are just ridiculous.
It’s hard to tell who’s causing the trouble from these videos. Cops or kids? I wouldn’t put it past either group… But seriously, if these brats came to MY bar to smash windows, they’d get a lot worse than pepper spray.
One of the guys in the video, who sounds about 16 years old, tells the cops, “You’re not wanted here.” HA! Thanks for stepping in as spokesperson for somewhere you probably just moved to a year ago. We’re definitely not cop lovers (having put up with their violence ourselves during WTO), but a lot of us longtime residents don’t actually want the neighborhood torn up by a bunch of entitled drunks from the cul-de-sacs of Bellevue or Bothell or wherever. Go home and drink some milk, kiddies!
GISH wrote, “if these brats came to MY bar to smash windows, they’d get a lot worse than pepper spray”. How is that at all related to police use of pepper spray on people walking peacefully in the street (something our police regularly do, despite public outcry and a federal investigation into their pattern and practice of using excessive force)?
Have you heard or read any report of windows being smashed or of anyone’s attempt to do so last night? I have not. If suspect that if anything of the sort had happened, we’d be watching an SPD press conference announcing it right now.
most gay outlets had warnings about this happening about security at wild rose were warning people to be safe.. cus these people were gonna try it again.. i was walking around pike and saw the police presence first hand and had no real problem with it.. they didnt get involved with anything or were overly aggresive i felt due to last year they were there for protection and quick action.. these people in the video were just trying to be ants at a picnic and the police were not gonna let them get to the pic a nic basket.. soo if you were out and you had a good time yay for you .. if you were out acting a fool chanting about whose hill this was and got pepper sprayed yay for you!!
@ Phil — remember last year’s debacle? Same situation. Same context. Same excuse. Damaged property. Maybe you weren’t here yet then. Anyway, your heart is in the right place. HAPPY PRIDE! XO
GISH, our police used chemical weapons on people last night. Our police took people to jail last night. Are you suggesting the use of force last night was a response to a 2011 incident?
You didn’t answer my question: Have you heard or read any report of windows being smashed or of anyone’s attempt to do so last night?
Justin’s 9:55 a.m. update suggests that last night’s police violence was inflicted as a result of “pedestrian interference” and contempt of cop, not as a result of property damage or of attempted property damage.
YP wrote, “most gay outlets had warnings about this happening”
They had warnings about what happening? People protesting by walking peacefully down the street (which reportedly happened)? Police responding to “pedestrian interference” by dousing people with chemical agents (which reportedly happened)?
Not enough info about what the people did wrong to make a judgement here. It does seem that the police are on edge about large groups and trying to stem violence etc… And sometime the police response does, indeed, cause more violence to happen. But if they had left everyone alone and violence had broken out (think of the violent faction of the “anarchist” groups), wouldn’t we all be asking where were the police?
Explicitly peaceful Student Noise Brigade?! Bahaha. You mean the slacker, dirt bag fools who literally bang pots and pans like petulant children while blocking traffic and disturbing the peace for hours at a time?
You people are a joke. And by you people I mean the residents of Capitol Hill who think that everyone must think like you.
Newsflash – there are people who live in the Hill who aren’t gay, aren’t slackers or hipsters, and who actually work for a living and raise children and don’t get shitfaced as a matter of course and make fools of themselves.
Tony wrote, “[sometimes] the police response does, indeed, cause more violence to happen.” Yes, particularly when the police response is violence in the midst of peaceful political demonstration. Sometimes violent police response simply results in people being harmed as they refrain from defending themselves, lest they be accused of assaulting an officer.
“if [the police] had left everyone alone and violence had broken out […] wouldn’t we all be asking where were the police?” I don’t understand what point you’re trying to make. If the police left everyone alone, then observed someone engaging in violence, presumably they would step in immediately to neutralize the danger, then get that person in front of a judge.
Capitol hill isn’t safe enough! Where is the police presence? Then cops sit there to make sure Pride is safe from all the random shootings and god forbid a hate crime takes place. Then they are called fuckers and they don’t belong on the hill and this is our hill. This town has some crazy people saying they want safe streets and when cops are around they get all mad. I really don’t give a shit if cops are all over the place. I rather have them sitting there then getting robbed, assaulted, raped and whatever else can happen. Until humans can act in a civilized way there will always be cops get use to it. I know when cops are around I don’t have to worry since I am not doing anything illegal. It is amazing how we disrespect these human beings that after being called pig or fuckers or any other childish name would turn around and save you or seek justice for you if you were being robbed, assaulted, raped, or killed. Do them a favor and next time you are in need of 911 just don’t call..
Political demonstration?????? what agenda are they pushing? what is the message? I can never make it out. These things usually are very vague and generic. The protesters of this town are a joke and have no message that is clear it is just a bunch of angst crazed adolescent minded individuals that have feel into this romantic idea with protesting so the protest to feel as if they are some radical revolutionary protesters.
Cummon guys, please get on the sidewalk? Pretty please? No? It really would be nice if you followed the law. This is a busy night, there are lots of cars trying to get to and from pride celebrations on two of the busiest streets in the bar district. Please, pretty, pretty please don’t obstruct traffic? Oh, ok, you can pull trashcans into the street, but that’s really not ok. Pretty please follow the law? We don’t live in a police state, in fact I am looking at the intersection right outside the precinct from my apartment window. I’ve seen tons of protests with -gasp- a police escort in front and in back. They’ve even stopped and protested and spit IN FRONT OF THE PRECINCT! — They wouldn’t have gotten sprayed if they’d (1) stayed on the sidewalk, (2) followed repeated police requests, (3) gotten a permit. That’s all I’m sayin’. I think I’m going to walk down the sidewalk and get a coffee. Hope I don’t get attacked with a “chemical weapon”!
Well said jaa, thank you.
Sounds like both sides were at fault. But the cops do tend to get heavy handed with people. They ask people to disperse, then herd everyone around so they can’t disperse, then use that as a reason to pepper spray everyone.
I don’t like large crowds, and I am afraid of the police, so I just don’t go out anymore. It’s not fun, but I guess I save money by drinking at home.
The police in this town are such bullies. They’ve been so rude, now when I see one on the street I’m afraid and I look away. No, I’m not a minority, have never been arrested, pepper sprayed, etc. But they frighten me. One time at my old building there was a robber/burglar running around and we came out front to see what was going on. I’ll never forgot how when the cops arrived one screamed at my neighbor for not pointing them in the right direction. I was so scared I actually wet myself! (embarrassing) Funny, because other times when cops are busy and I’ve seen someone try to say “They went that way,” etc., the cops then scream “Get out of my face! I’m busy!” I guess you can’t win with them.
I felt a bit lame staying in and missing the festivities. But it would’ve cost too much money for cover, drinks, the cab home (too late to walk). Now, reading this report I’m glad I missed it. Sorry other people’s celebrations were ruined though.
I am sure your “protest” would have been any less effective (if effective at all) if you stayed on the sidewalk. In fact, you would have been better off because you could have covered a lot more ground and had a better time without pepper spray in your face. I don’t get to walk around in the middle of the street yelling like an asshole and you shouldn’t either.
Also, maybe you have no memory, but the same dance party/”protest” resulted in vandalism last year so I think neutering your party immediately was the appropriate response. If the assholes in your group didn’t break windows last year, I bet you would have been able to dance in the street all night this year.
“Chemical warfare” – LOL
At least no windows were broken, protection of property always being the mayor’s top priority.
We get the government we deserve. Enjoy…
From http://i103.org:
Whereas, the United States Department of Justice finds that the Seattle Police Department engages in a pattern or practice of excessive force, in violation of the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 and patterns of racially biased policing which include excessive use of force;
Section 4 .. (d) Rights to a Citizen Managed and Accountable Police Force. All residents of the City of Seattle have a right to a police force held fully accountable by its citizens. The Seattle Police Department’s Office of Professional Accountability will now report to the Mayor.
You’ve never been to a protest before, have you? I pity you for never living. You can’t have a protest in a sidewalk. It was a protest against conforming, so why would we conform to the sidewalk? A sidewalk fits like 3 people wide max. This got to at least 100 at certain times. Stopping cars for 2 minutes will give you a lot more attention than them going by at 30MPH thinking its just the closing time for a popular bar…
This a legitimate question. But I have to ask… does someone have to see a protest dance party to make it effective?
So it’s okay for business to block the streets to sell booze to party goers who will likely get in their cars and obstruct traffic when they drive off capitol hill but it’s not okay for residents to walk down the street in large groups?
Oh Lord- As a young Autistic Transman Yeah that’s exactly what this is about. This group was called QFQ Queers Fucking Queers a group of people who outwardly support Autistic, Trans, Queer, People of Color, Youth, and anybody else who wants to be whoever they want to be…so yeah you nailed it that’s exactly what this is about.
I support the cops!
that’s easy, the people in the bar. and just to let people kno the pride is to celebrate the Stonewall riots ( http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/stonewall/p ) which was a whole lot of trans people fighting the police becuz of repression and violence perpetrated against them by the pigs so for any1 to say the like the police who are homophobic/transphobic racist sexist and classist is a lier and homophobic/transphobic themselves (not to mention racist sexist and cl assist.
No I haven’t and I won’t. The citizens who want to run the police department are exactly the ones who should not. Their agenda, one that seems to pass from generation to generation on Capitol Hill: drugs, revolution, breaking things, screaming and spitting at cops and more drugs. Sorry children, the adults are in charge as they should be.
ERF, you have no idea what you’re talking about — or you do, and you’re speaking in glib denial. The cops were there, with their flashing lights and their slow-driving vans and their paddywagons, before anyone ever left the sidewalk over an hour before. But sure, piss on a bunch of people for having the only free, all-ages dance party in the city of Seattle during Pride.
Also, this:
Cops have a hard job they’re not calculated or malicious at all blah blah blah yawn
I wouldn’t go so far as to call paying taxes a privilege. I was just about to give up on it, but with your encouraging words I will endeavor to soldier on. Thank you.
….
Where did your comment go mbop?
check it i think im going to go check it out http://www.facebook.com/events/432393753449703/
This video seems to show an SPD officer pepper spraying someone in the face who was just standing there – make an arrest for their prior acts … but this seems clearly to be an inappropriate use of pepper spray as a weapon:
Have you signed? Initiative 103 would provide Citizen Oversight of the Seattle Police Department
From http://i103.org:
Whereas, the United States Department of Justice finds that the Seattle Police Department engages in a pattern or practice of excessive force, in violation of the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 and patterns of racially biased policing which include excessive use of force;
Section 4 .. (d) Rights to a Citizen Managed and Accountable Police Force. All residents of the City of Seattle have a right to a police force held fully accountable by its citizens. The Seattle Police Department’s Office of Professional Accountability will now report to the Mayor.
watch this and spread everywhere
Further evidence of the absolute corruption and brutality of the SPD. Please watch and spread widely.
I wonder if even Marguerite Kennedy interviewing Phil Mocek could make him sound less verbose, self-righteous, condescending, and discursively dishonest. Love when the comment thread becomes a courtroom transcript of his rhetorical questions. If I were The Crow I think I’d want to commit avian hara-kiri.
These protesters need to get off our hill, thanks to them Pride has this black mark on an otherwise uneventful weekend of celebration of Gay Pride. Not sure who they are or if they are an organized group but the pictures are not showing many of the tell tale signs of being part of the Pride events, no rainbows! It makes me mad that they act like anarchists who are nothing but domestic terrorists.
Either that or we have a group of alcohol fueled flash mobbers who did not get the memo that flash mobbing is so last year.
What the hell are these people protesting? The oppression of gay pride on Capital Hill? Isn’t this like going to the Vatican and protesting against the oppression of Catholics? This was no protest, merely alcohol fueled hooliganism. Explain to me how damaging a private citizen’s car by jumping up and down on the hood is a political protest?
I don’t think it’s accurate to say that the police were arresting “jaywalkers.” This was a mob of people walking/dancing down the street, and such activity clearly is a danger to themselves (from motorists and, sometimes, from over-reactive police actions), and clearly a danger to motorists who might be trying to drive by. I think the police were entirely justified in stopping this illegal activity before it got out of hand. If they don’t stop such activity, sooner or later there will be an ugly incident between a motorist and a “protestor,” with serious vandalism and injury the likely result. So, clearing the street is effective, preventive policing…and if the immature kids on the street don’t like it, they can lump it.
There are plenty of spaces where people can dance/party/protest legally (clubs, parks, sidewalks)….streets not included. But then mobs like this are not really interested in partying….they are interested more in provoking the police and in impressing their friends with their “activism.”
Phil, it is annoying that you repeatedly say that the people were “peacefully walking down the street”….which perhaps is true, but you ignore the fact that such activity is illegal. I have read nothing that indicates that this incident was a “protest”…seems more like it was a group of intoxicated people who just wanted to provoke a police reaction.
I would also like to point out that such “flash mobs” in the past have been co-opted by violent anarchists, and this might have happened again if the police had not stopped the illegal action in its tracks. It’s called good, preventitive policing.
Mocek is an apologist for “faux anarchist” violence. Pay no serious attention to him.
Yes, it is ok with a permit.
Can you be just one of those or do you need to be a combination to be “accepted” by your group?
Calhoun wrote, “I don’t think it’s accurate to say that the police were arresting “jaywalkers. […] I think the police were entirely justified in stopping this illegal activity before it got out of hand.”
So we can understand you better: What law/ordinance, if not the one that bars people from walking in the street except in a crosswalk in compliance with any traffic control devices, do you suppose that these people were suspected by police to be in violation of?
1) The people in the street were not violating any laws. In fact, I believe that the police acted unlawfully in forcing the protesters off the street. And the police KNEW it was unlawful to do so. They lost a federal court battle a few years ago (2008?) in a case called October 22nd Coalition v. City of Seattle. Since then, you don’t need a permit to march in Seattle. You just need 50 people. The police DO NOT have the power to redirect your march or to force you off the street. See federal court case October 22nd Coalition v. City of Seattle. Folks, we’re Americans. We are protected the U.S. and Washington Constitutions. We have certain rights. Those include the right to free speech and assembly. As part of those rights, you can march.
2) The line in the “remix” video that “Lt. Calder is clearly lying” should be changed to “Lt. Calder is clearly lying, should be immediately fired, and personally sued for intentionally violating the sprayed man’s constitutionally protected right to free speech and assembly to take every penny a tax payer has ever given that worthless asshat.”
“Jumping up and down” on a car? The Calder video clearly shows a person with a camera hopping onto the hood of a car in order to get a better vantage point to take pictures. At no point was that person “jumping up and down” on the car’s hood. You just regurgitated the SPD report without questioning it.
Duhm, how would a permit make it “okay”? The effect is the same, permitted or not, so it seems that any problems the action should apply equally in either scenario.
I didn’t delete it, so honestly I’m not sure. … Unless this is your snide way of saying you did.
“I think the police were entirely justified in stopping this illegal activity before it got out of hand.”
God, you’re Orwellian, calhoun.
The mod or mods have clearly deleted 4+ of my comments, which were all directly responding to different posters. Guess people in power don’t like a little criticism around here….
At any rate, for the sake of clarity, here’s the video Braden’s talking about:
Also see:
I answered the previous person about selling booze in the street. You are not entitled to have another stupid question answered on this thread. You have reached your max.
“no rainbows!” the horror! my god, without that singular image of homosexuality, we are nothing! never mind the pink tights of the woman attempting to unarrest her friend while he’s getting pepper-sprayed and pulled into the street.
way to take on someone’s content.
We have Anarcho-Hooliganism here because we don’t have national Football teams like they do in Europe.
Oh, and it looks like the remnants of Occupy Seattle had something to do with this, which is why it looked like every other dumb thing they have done for the past six months. http://www.facebook.com/groups/occupyseattle/
I do not agree with what you have to say, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it.
Voltaire
Justin wrote, “9:20AM – UPDATE […] CHS captured the moment when one participant decided to stand on top of the car”
The police report states, Officers saw an unknown man jump on top of a parked car and begin to stomp and jump up and down on it. Officers ordered the man to stop and get down off the car. The man refused, and pepper spray was used.”
Justin, did you witness anyone doing what the police claim to have seen?
CapHillMax, oh pseudonymous slanderer, I have not apologized for any violence. In fact, only violence I’ve seen mentioned in this discussion is that which was perpetrated by our peace officers.
Prior to the use of pepper spray, I did not see contact between Calder and the man identified in the video as the 24-year-old arrested for assault. And I also do not know that there was not contact. The rest of my observations, I have recorded in the report.
However, it’s not just YOUR hill.
Very few of us were drunk and I live in the community. Your stupid assumptions only make an ass out of YOU. Thanks.
the 24 year old that was arrested was a kindergarten teacher that is non violent activist (unlike people like me who are more militant but no i wasn’t there unfortunately) who is getting out in a hour or so. i will see if he wants to leave a comment when hes out. furthermore the judge dismissed all charges against him saying that “it was one of the most ridiculous cases hes seen” and that there is “no evidence that he had ever committed a crime” further more the particular cop whose name is well known has a reputation in the courts for trumping up false charges.
And yet they don’t delete Phil’s comments. That just isn’t fair.
Duhm, you took the time to whine about my comments remaining in place, but you still haven’t said how a demonstration causes any more or less inconvenience, is any more or less dangerous, etc., based on whether somebody got a piece of paper from our municipal government before taking action. I contend that the effect on others is precisely the same, regardless of whether or not a permit was issued.
Advance notification to our government so they can better facilitate people’s political expression is a good thing, but who cares if a permit was issued?
All the video shows is people refusing to get on the sidewalk, some of them well known “anarchists” (douchebags on the dole, calling themselves Puget Sound Anarchists), then the cops spraying when they didnt get on the sidewalk. What’s the problem?
Wow, shocker to see Ian Awesome’s comments here. When aren’t you involved in trying to create a fistfight with police? And you aren’t from the hill or even Seattle so telling others that it’s your hill not theirs is insane. Go home, faker. No one believes anything you say whether you’re glomming on to 1 movement or the next. Your youtube history speaks for itself, dramaqueen.
Most of us who live on the hill, and have for decades, would like an end to out of town idiots coming here to drag trash cans in to the street, break windows and call it a protest. Shame on y’all for crapping on Pride.
as a queer man of color its a joke to me that some of you strait white men talk about this being your hill. your joking right? the fact that most of you are up there is to gentrification in other words ur a transplant so next time you call out some1 for being out town make sure your in area that historically belonged to you cuz when it all falls down the anarchists belong there much more then you they are mostly LGBTQ ian if he is who i think he is. is much more excepted then any yuppie now matter what sexual orientation they are. and ppl judge anarchists so much but they are the ones actually doing something productive with there lives unlike most ppl trying to insult them. y’all usually sit in a cubical all say the fry your brain in front of the tv trying to be “good” lil sheeple just remember to continue to trust the butcher. see i was trying at first.
hey know-it-all, PSA is a blog. not a group. you sound about as informed as someone saying “Slog took the streets today to support marijuana legalization.”
here’s a recap of what has been said repeatedly and what should be obvious to anyone who’s actually bothered to visit PSA/do independent research, instead of parroting the cops: http://pugetsoundanarchists.org/node/543
oh right. ian and all the rest of live in condos, gentrifyin the hood.
in your dreams.
also, you have no idea how long people have lived here. as the other commenter indicates below, if you’re going to play some claim to the neighborhood game, the working class people of color *you* helped displaced through moving here sure as fuck tend to experience police harassment. if you can’t speak to similar experiences, well then that’s your privilege. but don’t pretend you know anything about the people getting dragged into the street and pepper-sprayed.
I thought about making a flip comment and saying “See mbop, even the anarchist like Ian Awesome point out it’s not your hill.” However, I began to worry that Ian Awesome did not understand my last post acknowledges mbop’s right to believe and state whatever. My grandmother had told me stories about the way the SPD was back in the 50-60’s and this generation of police is nothing like that. Sure there are bad cops, just like any other job has sucky people that abuse power and it would be in the public’s best interest for them to be fired, but for the most part this is nothing like the Hollywood movie crime drama corruption shown in 70’s movies.
Also Ian Awesome, I didn’t write that I owned the hill. If you took it that way I apologize for not being clear. I did write that I have a business; I pay taxes, have neighbors, and you may even accurately infer that I like for the most part the police force my taxes pay for.
eloh wrote about the Stonewall Riots as to the history and reason behind the parade (so much for the moving to August group)and I thank him, but he also wrote some other things that cause me concern. While the anarchists do have a lengthy history here in Seattle, outside of the group name it has little connection with what happened here 100 years ago or so. The report that a kindergarten teacher may have been involved in the mess makes me very glad my children are out of kindergarten.
Ha, you actually said “sheeple”.
Your racist claims of ownership of the hill are laughable on their very face. Your claims that the “anarchist”, who are generally nothing more than street kids with nothing better to do, are actually doing something productive or meaningful is equally ridiculous (if not sad).
You don’t even realize what a joke you are to the people who actually can affect change. =]
robert maybe you should go back to school learn some history like the fact that wobblies are anarchists. or the fact that u are obviously racist by the very statement that i was. how is that u as white probably strait male can take over any neighborhood and think its ok that you pushed the former residents out that where of color and lgbtq, hmm whose really racist in fact i wouldn’t be surprised if you where part of the northwest front that Nazi grouping. however the fact that im addressing you makes me feel ridiculous you just not on par. but for every1 else the anarchist feed people grow community gardens have food underground food banks throw fundraisers have library’s etc. don’t trust the idiots investigate your self. has anybody herd of food not bombs i wounder what type of organization is that or democracy that’s an anarchist philosophy. the people run the government. i could go on forever but im tired.
Phil, I’ll answer your question. You say that “advance notice” to the City is a “good thing” because it “better facilitates people’s political expression”….I completely agree, and this is exactly what a permit does! The police can then close streets temporarily to keep demonstrators (and motorists) safer, and they can assign officers appropriate to the size/type of demonstration. This is a totally different scenario than the extemperaneous, unpermitted, late-night marches which are usually fueled by alcohol and almost always result in violence/property damage.
To those claiming here that a mob walking down a street is actually legal, I doubt this very much. If a single jaywalker is acting illegally, then a street mob of hundreds surely must also be illegal.
No charges were filed, thus there were no charges to dismiss, thus the judge wouldn’t have spoken at all. What are you talking about?
The judge found that there was no probable cause to arrest him. Our police put locked this man up for about 40 hours (2am Sunday morning until about 6pm Monday evening), and a judge found that there was not the slightest reason for them to believe he had done anything wrong.
You seem to have mistaken the people who want the cops here with the people who don’t. Just because some people say they want police here doesn’t mean EVERYONE wants them here. Jesus Christ!
How do you come up with this logic?! Americans elected a republican one year, and then the next time they elected a democrat. Make up your mind! You can’t have it both ways!!
A society is not a collective conscience. Many people have many different ideas.
Get it?
Probably not…
This is no more your hill than it is ours. Just because people don’t have the typical images of the cis-white-male Pride(TM), doesn’t mean they aren’t queer.