Tag Archives: protests

Groups planning Capitol Hill ‘No Kings 2.0’ rally before meeting up with Saturday’s Seattle Center march

Posted on by
17

Marchers crossed Capitol Hill during the June No Kings demonstration

This summer, an estimated 70,000 marched from Capitol Hill’s Cal Anderson Park as part of a nationwide “No Kings” protest against the Trump administration. Saturday, thousands are again expected again to march in the city — but this time the gathering spot will be the Seattle Center before the demonstration fills the streets for a march downtown.

A group of organizers are planning a “No Kings 2.0” demonstration on Capitol Hill before meeting up with the downtown crowds.

CHS has reported previously over the years on the spirited, grassroots-organized, and sometimes lightly attended rallies, demonstrations, and marches led by the Capitol Hill Pride group formed long ago around efforts by the long-gone Museum of Mysteries on Broadway to create an alternative queer Pride event in the neighborhood every summer.

Saturday, Capitol Hill Pride is hoping to capture some of the No Kings 2.0 spirit for its planned, rally, “chalk-in,” and march scheduled to step off from Seattle Central in time for the procession to make its way to the Mexican Consulate on Harvard Ave and then to Seattle Center to meet with the larger rally. Continue reading →

SPD responds to Capitol Hill demonstration at ‘local tech company CEO’s residence’

Posted on by
29

Recent Seattle protests against the war in Gaza have included noisy demonstrations away from typical gathering spaces like Cal Anderson Park.

Last Thursday night, police say they responded to a North Capitol Hill neighborhood where “Pro-Palestinian protesters gathered on the street in front of a local tech company CEO’s residence.” Continue reading →

On the CHS Calendar: 🍑Denny Blaine Labor Day Nude-In Protest🍑

Posted on by
6

You will have no trouble figuring out what to wear to this protest. Join “community members who just want to preserve our historically queer nude beach” and “your nudist neighbors” for the 🍑Denny Blaine Labor Day Nude-In Protest🍑 —

Protest to keep Denny-Blaine Park 100% clothing optional! Be nude in body or in spirit! There will be a potluck, art, music, and best of all, COMMUNITY!

The protest will be the latest actions in unclothed but civil disobedience as the Seattle Parks Department  responds to a court order by adding a restricted “nude zone” to the park popular with queer and nudist communities on the shores of Lake Washington east of Capitol Hill. The zone is hoped to address complaints of illegal sexual activity in the ongoing lawsuit brought by a group of neighbors and property owners over the popular nude beach.

CHS reported here on a weekend of nude puppet shows earlier in August as lovers of Denny Blaine have vowed to push back on the restrictions.

The Denny Blaine Labor Day Nude-In Protest will take place on Labor Day from 3 to 6 PM. Temperatures are expected to be in the upper 70s with partly cloudy skies.

 

$5 A MONTH TO HELP KEEP CHS PAYWALL-FREE

Subscribe to CHS to help us hire writers and photographers to cover the neighborhood. CHS is a pay what you can community news site with no required sign-in or paywall. To stay that way, we need you. Become a subscriber to help us cover the neighborhood for $5 a month -- or choose your level of support 🖤 

 
 

‘Revive in 25’ — Christian groups reportedly set for return to Cal Anderson for August 30th rally

Posted on by
48

Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell’s office is relying on technicalities as it explains the status of city permits for an August 30th anti-LGBTQ fundamentalist Christian rally in Capitol Hill’s Cal Anderson Park.

“Park Use Permits aren’t issued for about two weeks (~15-30 days) prior to an event. See full permit process here. So at this time, a permit has not been issued for this event,” the mayor’s press secretary Callie Craighead told CHS Wednesday.

CHS asked Craighead what the Harrell administration is doing to protect the neighborhood and prevent the issues that occurred in May as Seattle Police moved on crowds of counter-demonstrators gathered in the park.

The mayor’s office has not responded.

Now, another concert and rally from the church groups is planned to return to the Capitol Hill park despite previous vows from city officials. Continue reading →

‘Your Voice Matters’ — Police Commission seeks ‘community members impacted’ by Seattle Police crackdown on Cal Anderson May 24 protest

Posted on by
3

The Seattle Community Police Commission is seeking accounts of the experiences of demonstrators and park-goers caught up in the SPD response to protests against an anti-trans and reproductive rights Christian rally in Cal Anderson in May.

“Your experience can help inform our work and ensure community perspectives are part of upcoming reviews and policy recommendations,” the flyer being sent to LGBTQ community groups reads.

The Saturday, May 24th Christian rally ended with police moving on demonstrators protesting the event from On Fire Ministries, a Spokane-based religious group that has grown under Christian fundamentalist pastor and former state representative Matt Shea and is supported by anti-LGBTQ religious activist Sean Feucht. There were multiple arrests but no significant charges made against demonstrators. Continue reading →

Dodgeball DJ — How music and community helped Dan Gregory heal

Posted on by
4

Five years ago, Dan Gregory’s life changed forever when he was shot by the brother of an SPD officer during the 2020 protests on Capitol Hill. The trauma left deep scars, both physically and mentally, but through music, DJing, and an unexpected Capitol Hill community on the dodgeball court, he found a lifeline.

“Music Saved My Life”
For Gregory, DJing is survival.

“If it wasn’t for music and having an outlet, I probably would have offed myself,” he admits. “That was a lot to go through, and I’d still do it all over again if I had to, but music is how I process my emotions.”

Under the moniker DJ Danny G (formerly DJ oohchillem), Gregory has turned his pain into a magnetic force, curating sets that bring people together at everything from bus stop pop-up jams, homeless camps, or local taco stands.

Today, he brings music to the busy courts of Cal Anderson just blocks away from 11th and Pine and the center of where CHOP formed five years ago this month.

“I love how music can change an environment,” he says. “People come in stressed, and then the right song comes on, and suddenly everyone’s singing along. That energy is everything.” Continue reading →

No Kings, no arrests as 70,000 march from Cal Anderson Park

Posted on by
23

With reporting by Alex Garland

Crowds were measured by the mile Saturday as demonstrators marched from Capitol Hill’s Cal Anderson Park in Seattle’s contribution to a weekend of “No Kings” protests across the nation.

Officials estimated more than 70,000 here stretched across one and a half miles of city streets Saturday afternoon as the demonstration flooded out of Cal Anderson onto E Pine and into the city headed for the Seattle Center.

it was one of the largest gatherings in the state since a sea of people stretched miles from Cal Anderson for the Women’s March in 2018.

Seattle officials were ecstatic to announce there had been no arrests.

The protest comes five years after the Black Lives Matter protests and the formation of the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest zone that filled the area around Cal Anderson in June 2020.

Meanwhile, twelve miles away in Tukwila, police and “an ICE Special Response Team” fired painful pepper spray balls at demonstrators seeking to disrupt an “Intensive Supervision Appearance Program” check-in. Continue reading →

‘No Kings’ protests planned for Seattle include rally in Cal Anderson Park amid heated clashes over federal immigration enforcement — UPDATE: Wednesday night bulletin

Posted on by
61

UPDATE: Hundreds filled Cal Anderson Wednesday night in a protest against ICE and the Trump administration. The demonstrators marched to the downtown federal building where the protest continued into the night (Image: Alex Garland/CHS)

Cal Anderson’s place as a gathering space for free speech and defiance against the Trump administration in Seattle will be on display this weekend as “No Kings” protests are planned across the country Saturday.

Crowds and energy will be split in the city. Many groups and organizations are planning a Saturday noontime rally in the Capitol Hill park before a march to the Seattle Center. Other groups have centered on the University of Washington for their demonstrations.

UPDATE 5:00 PM: SPD’s East Precinct Crime Prevention Coordinator has issued a bulletin to businesses and community groups about protest activities expected in the area Wednesday night. “It is likely unaffiliated small groups intent on committing violence and/or property damage will attempt to embed themselves un this rally,” the SPD bulletin reads. We have posted the full statement at the end of this report. UPDATE x2: East Precinct Captain Jung Trinh has clarified that the bulletin was issued by the city’s Office of Economic Development, not the precinct.

Continue reading →

Five years later: CHOP and the 2020 protests in Seattle

Posted on by
28

Five years ago this week, CHS began what would grow into months of day by day, night by night coverage of the 2020 protests in Seattle. It was a neighborhood story. Continue reading →

Cal Anderson protest: No charges (yet), Parks says nope to August, FBI threat, and ‘mostly silent’ vigil planned outside Seattle church

Posted on by
17

The Seattle Police Department has referred one case to prosecutors out of the 23 people arrested in the Saturday, May 24th counter-demonstration against an anti-trans and reproductive rights Christian rally in Cal Anderson Park while city officials have been loud and clear that another rally planned for August won’t take place on Capitol Hill.

Meanwhile, a vigil is being planned for Sunday outside one of the Seattle churches behind the provocative events. Continue reading →