Huge crowd heading up to Capitol Hill. #Seattle pic.twitter.com/IqXIHMpKGk
— Mike (@georgetownmike) November 10, 2016
UPDATE 6:20 PM: Thousands of protesters splintered off a planned rally and march at Westlake Park and headed up E Pike toward Capitol Hill Wednesday night.
Police estimated the crowd at more than 700 marchers moving onto Capitol Hill. UPDATEx2: Police say the group has fully formed and is closer to 5,000 to 6,000 marchers.
The rally started at 4 PM and included speakers denouncing the election victory of Donald Trump and celebrating the call for a general strike on Inauguration Day. After a march toward the downtown Federal Building, the protest circled back toward Westlake and began to splinter.
“Not my president” chants and signs proclaiming fights against racism and homophobia were the order of the night.
The protest was peaceful and there were no reported arrests as of this update.
UPDATE 6:45 PM: It is not clear where the march is headed as the protest has reached 10th Ave E and Prospect near St. Mark’s.
The protest joins rallies and marches in cities across the country Wednesday night.
UPDATE 7:05 PM: As the march reaches Roanoke, it appears the protest is headed for the University of Washington. Police have been busy coordinating with state troopers to make sure I-5 onramps and exits are blocked off to the protesters.
Police are also busy in downtown Seattle where five people were shot and a search for the gunman seen leaving the area is on. The shootings were first reported around 6:45 PM long after the marchers had left the area.
UPDATE 7:36 PM: The remaining large group of marchers is crossing the University Bridge and leaving Eastlake. There have been reports of some scuffles with police but still no arrests and no reports of significant damage.
UPDATE 9:00 PM: The march has continued with protesters circling through the University District and the UW campus. There have been some attempts to enter I-5 but so far groups have not been successful in reaching the freeway and disrupting traffic on the interstate.
UPDATE 9:41 PM: Marchers, still numbering around 2,000 according to police, were last reported headed south on Eastlake back in the direction of downtown Seattle.
#AntiTrumpRally Seattle left Downtown, through Capitol Hill, we're now headed down hill towards Portage Bay pic.twitter.com/3uAyeFWH3l
— Jeffrey Atkinson (@jeffkinson) November 10, 2016
Encountered an anti-Trump protest marching on Broadway in Seattle's Capitol Hill: "The whole world's watching" & "Not my president!" #waelex pic.twitter.com/2MRaFamBwx
— Neal Morton (@nealtmorton) November 10, 2016
Thousands are taking the streets of Oakland. #antitrumprally #notmypresident pic.twitter.com/dV2cpeA9Zs
— Shoshanna Howard (@Sho_How) November 10, 2016
Protest in the Castro of San Francisco tonight #Trumpocalypse #antitrumprally pic.twitter.com/7nZvLhs4GF
— Shaena Silvestri (@Shaena_S) November 10, 2016
Original report: Frustration, confusion, sadness, and a path forward are on the minds of Seattleites as a series of events are being held Wednesday in response to Donald Trump’s triumph over Hillary Clinton.
(Image: CHS)
“Regardless of tonight’s national results, tomorrow Seattle will remain a city guided by the values of equality, inclusion and openness,” Mayor Ed Murray said in a statement Tuesday night. “Tomorrow we will continue to support women, we will welcome as neighbors our Muslim brothers and sisters, and tomorrow Black Lives will still matter. Our City will remain strong because of our diversity, not in spite of it.” Murray planned a pre-noon conference to address the media about the results.
UPDATE 11:55 AM: In his brief conference, Murray said he believe Seattle can help lead the country forward. “Cities matter,” the mayor said. “We can make a difference.”
Despite the support for Trump, Murray said it would be a “mistake” to view half the nation as misogynists and authoritarians and that “ongoing economic inequality in America” was a root cause for the Republican victory.
Murray also said immigrants and the Muslim community remain welcome in Seattle and that his own LGBTQ community must not surrender progress of recent years.
“We will not lose some of our gains, the rings on our fingers,” Murray said.
Murray also expressed grave concern about Republican threats to dismantle the Affordable Care Act.
Speaking on immigration, Council member Lorena Gonzalez vowed “We will not back down.”
There were no policy announcements but Murray did say Seattle, even if federal money is cut, will remain a “Sanctuary City” and is moving forward on a series of agreements with the Mexican Consulate.
.@MayorEdMurray reassured immigrants, Muslims, women, people of color & LGBTQ people that Seattle remains a safe place for all. pic.twitter.com/mbVnIBxaNZ
— Office of Econ Dev (@SeattleEconomy) November 9, 2016
City Hall will also host a noontime “post-Election gathering” and rally featuring officials and community leaders including Murray, Pramila Jayapal, newly elected to replace Jim McDermott in Congress, and representatives from groups including the Capitol Hill Community Council:
post-Election gathering featuring Congressmember-elect Pramila Jayapal, Seattle Mayor Ed Murray, and other community leaders
Still We Rise
TODAY — Wednesday, November 9th
12:00pm
Seattle City Hall
UPDATE 2:30 PM: During her time at the mic during the noontime rally, Kshama Sawant called for a nationwide strike on Inauguration Day, Friday, January 20, 2017.
“I know yesterday’s results were difficult,” Working Washington director Sejal Parikh said in an email announcing the rally. “I know many of us feel scared, confused, frustrated. I know I was left wondering why half the country hates who I am and my existence. We have a lot of processing to do.”
Via her Socialist Alternative party, District 3 representative Kshama Sawant, meanwhile, announced a 4 PM protest at Westlake:
Join us in the streets to demonstrate mass opposition to Trump and his agenda!
Build a movement to fight racism, sexism, and Islamophobia!
– No Border Wall! Stop the deportations of undocumented immigrants!
– Tax rich millionaires like Trump! Fund healthcare for all! Make college free!
– Black Lives Matter!
– End rape culture
– Stop the Dakota Access Pipeline — Green Jobs now! — #NoDAPLThe Democratic Party has proven they are incapable of stopping Trump. The Democratic Party has failed. This is the result of the Democratic Party leadership backing Hillary Clinton instead of Bernie Sanders. It is time to build a new party of the 99%.
Hundreds of anti-Trump protestors demonstrating at Seattle's Westlake Mall. pic.twitter.com/6zFyiPKb7t
— Elisa Jaffe (@ElisaJaffe) November 10, 2016
In the wake of Election Night, dozens of people joined protests that blocked late night traffic on E Pike and Broadway and included dancing, shouting, and a series of small arson fires, police said. There were no arrests.
Late night protesting on E Pike (Image: CHS)
I’m no big fan of Sawant, but I sure as hell will join her to protest this spray-tanned nincompoop.
Maybe all of you haters should donate your time picking up the garbage while we DRAIN THAT SWAMP!!!!!!!!!
The people have spoken, like it or not your out numbered 10x over.
GO TRUMP!!!!!!!!!!!
A shameless, self-promoting windbag with no business in government, leading a protest about a shameless self-promoting windbag with no business in government. Maybe we’ll all catch a break and the paradox will destroy the universe.
Just wondering, what qualifies someone for government?
Thanks, Adam…..one of the best comments ever!
Not “one of” the best comments … simply THE best comment!
5000? I remember the march through Seattle to protest the first Gulf War prior to it being launched that had 30,000 people and it didn’t prevent anything. The college professor with the taste for attention and the entourage needs to go back to the classroom and let the 3rd district have an actual, accessible representative that represents more than this one segment of the people said to reside on Capitol Hill in its entirety and the CD.
5,000 people with less than 24 hours of planning doesn’t seem like a terrible spontaneous response, really.
FIG,
The well informed knew Trump would win with a landslide.
Trump had 5,000 to 7,000 people at every Rally and thousands
outside who couldn’t get in with traffic backed up for hours.
Hillary had 300 to 500 people with some events canceled because less showed up.
You can thank Over The Hill’s reps and the media for not reporting the facts…
WAKE UP…THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@justice served
you are correct. “the people” have spoken and they cast their votes for hillary. take a look at the popular vote and you’ll see she won 48% of the people’s votes compared to 47% of trumps. because of how our country elects the president it was the electoral college that actually put him in office.
so be it. he’s our president now for better or for worse. but don’t be so naive to think that there was an overwhelming majority of people that wanted trump over clinton; because that’s patently false. now we need to figure out how to work together, as fellow citizens, to make the country better for EVERYONE.
also, your comments here come off as trollish. don’t be a poor winner.
Seattle Councilmember Kshama Sawant also made an appearance at the beginning of the protest, encouraging voters to attend the inauguration and shut it down-I do not think this is the place for another elected official like Sawant to encourage the disruption of the smooth transition of the Presidency, what did she not understand when President Obama or Hillary Clinton spoke today.
A mob is many bodies without a head (Sawant does not qualify as the head [intelligence] of anything). Thank you for the common sense comment, Sandie.
I agree, Sandie, and will heed the advice of Hillary and Obama over the self-centered, attention-getting comments by Sawant.
Of course, many of us are upset and disgusted by the election of Trump, but I don’t see how these street protests accomplish anything, other than an opportunity to vent.
I also agree with Sandie, Bugsy and Bob, when they go low we go high. I am saddened by the results of the election. I was also disturbed by Trumps comments that he would not accept the results of the election unless he won. Now we have to accept the results of the election and make way for a peaceful transition of power. With that being said we also now have to redouble our efforts to minimize the damage the new administration can do and replace them in 4 years.
What a buch if whiny, sore losers. I didn’t vote for Trump but he’s our president for the next 4 years. Get over it!
My Husband and I attended the Caucus events in March. At the time all Hillary supporters were will willing to support Bernie, but sadly not the other way around. We too were torn as to who we liked better not who was worse than. First Lesson: You change the rules (as they should be) BEFORE or AFTER a Presidential Election not during. Use a sports analogy if you care? I wish I had seen all of these same shining young faces when we were canvassing door to door, making phone calls, registering voters etc. I can’t tell you how many of you said I hate Hillary, let it Bern!? Very grown up behavior people! Seriously we gave a minimum of close to volunteer 200 hours from us each. Where were you then—Ha, where the fuck were you? Your in-action and naive belief in the sexist attacks on Hillary are what brought this shit storm. Hillary adopted 75% of Bernie’s Platform. Would have made her cabinet 50% women including Bernie and Elizabeth Warren. Now we get Sarah Palin and a bunch of old white men. Thank you Bernie Bro’s across the country I lay this blame at your feet. If you really want to do something NOW start a movement to get rid of the Electoral College (she won the popular vote) and overturn Citizens United. Yes we are a gay couple who have been together for 20 years and now even our marriage could be taken away from us? Let alone what is at stake with healthcare, women’s rights and the environment.
Thank you for sharing this. I couldn’t agree more.
Exactly right. As a Hillary supporter at the Caucus I was insulted, harassed, called a secret republican/racist, etc.
It’s time for those obsessed with ideological purity to work in actual government to see how coalitions get made to actually make policy.
Hold on. I’m not sure it’s fair to blame Bernie supporters for Hillary’s defeat. Surely, very few if any of them voted for Trump. Maybe some voted for one of the third-party candidates. I have not seen any data to show how many sat out the election as a protest of Hillary’s nomination. I doubt that any of these three choices by Bernie supporters would have made any difference in the outcome.
You are extremely misguided to blame the results of this election on “Bernie Bro’s” without acknowledging that Hillary Clinton, as Glenn Greenwald so eloquently put it, was “a deeply unpopular, extremely vulnerable, scandal-plagued candidate, who — for very good reason — was widely perceived to be a protector and beneficiary of all the worst components of status quo elite corruption.”
Your wrath should be aimed at the geniuses of the Democrat establishment that not only backed Hillary with dirty tactics against Bernie, but who also refused to consider Sanders as her running mate. Sanders appealed to the progressive anti-establishment voters, and Democrats not only rejected this anti-establishment sentiment, they wrongly assumed that all progressives would support the poster child for establishment politics.
This suicidal blunder was highlighted by the fact that 90 million registered voters stayed home. As a California voter, I strategically voted for Jill Stein not because of any delusions that she could win, but with the hopes of helping her gain a 5% tally that would have made the Green Party – a true anti-establishment, revolutionary-minded party – eligible for federal funding in the next round. The fact that you were misled by DNC and the major corporate media into believing the liberal establishment candidate was a shoe-in, and that the groundswell of anti-establishment sentiment in the country was nothing to worry about, has more to do with your disappointment than anything else.
On a brighter note, Bernie Sanders inspired millions into organizing and planning “Beyond Bernie”, and these folks have already made it known that racist, sexist and homophobic policies will not be pushed through without a fight. They will have your back. Don’t be such a bitch …
I don’t see this as people not accepting the election or “whining”. It’s voicing the very real concerns regarding the fact that someone who ran on a platform of hate and fear is now going to be in power. In a free country you have a right to voice those concerns, and peaceful protest is one perfectly reasonable way to do so.
Due process will occur, and the results will be accepted, but those who disagree with Trump’s platform will continue to make their voices heard. Similar to, but probably in a more organized fashion than, the bitching and moaning of conservatives for the entirety of the Obama presidency.
Is SEIU going to fly her to the inauguration to cause trouble? Meanwhile the people in the 3rd district are getting what out of her over reaching agenda?