Groups of people sometimes numbering in the 100s began a night of protest downtown Wednesday and quickly turned their attention to Capitol Hill’s East Precinct. Here a splinter group sits at 12th and Pike as others marched on Broadway.
UPDATE x2: The protest has been heated and provocative but actual violence limited to a few shoves from both sides of the lines that form when SPD blocks a street. Unlike Saturday when protesters busted a police cruiser’s window, the marchers have been blocked from the corner of 12th and Pine by lines of SPD in riot gear. The chant is ‘Jail Ian Birk‘
UPDATE x3: East Precinct headquarters remains battened down as groups make their way through Pike/Pine and up and down Broadway.
weak post bro
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Thank you for the updates. Now I know why I hear so many helicopters over Cap Hill. It was a fine post.
Agreed!
Though I no longer hear the helicopters… so I came back here for an update.
On the move – protest heading W on Pine toward downtown. Numbers dwindled but in tune and loud :)
Yep gotta agree. Heard helicopters. Came to CHS
http://infectwithintellect.com/2011/02/seattle-is-getting-re
If you’re going to protest, you might as well own it and leave your hoods and H&M scarves at home. What is this, Backwater, Mississippi?
should Ian Birk be in jail? YES. But there probably isn’t enough evidence to guarantee a conviction. Generally it’s hard to convict a cop on murder (which would require intent) or manslaughter (see R.C.W 9A.16.040). The law basically states that if a police officer believes in good faith that the act is justifiable he cannot be held liable. So, unless the prosecutor can somehow prove that Ian Birk did not believe the man was a threat, no charges will stick. Leave Satterberg alone, he isn’t going to waste public money for a charges he knows he wont win on.
Ian Birk has resigned of his own free will. Now, hopefully this will inspire a real and honest conversation about police brutality and how to contain it. Which is NOT smashing cop car windows or yelling “fuck the police”. Protests are fine but let’s keep them civil if we really want to make a point about non-violence.
” The law basically states that if a police officer believes in good faith that the act is justifiable he cannot be held liable.”
Seattle Times noted that most states don’t have this restrictive a law.
They have covered their faces in case things get out of control and the crowd gets gassed. It’s to protect their lungs and ensure they can breathe in the event the police start gassing the masses.
That and that law has never been tested in courts. It’s a 3-branch system for a reason, we don’t even get the remote possibility of justice. It would have been different if it was a jury of our peers deciding this instead of one guy.
Remember folks, you only have four seconds to obey a command from SPD or they can’t be held responsible for what happens next!
Lets also look at the horrible mess of paper they left in there entire path. If you want support then do not make us hate your protest due to your lack of respect for our neighborhood.
Can we all stop acting like we knew and loved this wino? My only encounter with him was that I saw him pissing in the middle of broadway at around 3pm on a Saturday. The cops tried to get him out of the street and he was completely incoherent, and even started getting aggressive before they calmed him down.
No, he didn’t do anything wrong and was pretty much shot by someone who was confused and incompetent, but am I the only one who thinks it’s disrespectful to try and turn this person you wouldn’t have given a handful of change into a martyr?
Go ahead and march, but stop leaving trash everywhere and breaking shit.