An anonymous tipster sent us these pictures and a brief note describing a “mini riot” that left the intersection of Broadway and Harrison littered in flyers as smoke from flares faded away and Seattle police snapped photos of anarchist banners left at the scene just after 5 PM Wednesday night:
There was some sort of mini riot with people yelling, lighting flares and littering the intersection with hundreds if flyers at around 5:08 this afternoon.
According to police radio, the incident being investigated as a “suspicious circumstance” included a group of people with lit flares and gathered at the intersection just south of the Broadway Market QFC. We have no reports of arrests, significant damage or injuries related to the incident.
According to the flyers, the group was protesting the start of the trial of Simos Seisidis, allegedly one of the anarchist “robbers in black” responsible for a 2006 Athens bank robbery. The flyers included this URL: http://actforfreedomnow.blogspot.com/ Pictures of the flyers are attached to this post.
i am so sick of anarchists breaking things, vandalizing our stores and walls and throwing shit all over. this is our city. go back to whatever shithole you are from and leave seattle.
Better coverage and photos here: http://pugetsoundanarchists.org/node/468
And to the above commenter: the anarchists are from Seattle. Deal with it, dog.
Ha! I love that they staged their protest from atop an urban outfitters. I guess it was the next best thing now that hot topic closed.
After delivering their bombshell of a message, that no doubt motivated all that witnessed it to rise up against the society they once held so dear, did they cackle manically before disappearing into the smoke?
Did they come back and clean up their mess, or just leave it for the businesses to pay to have that done?
Maybe you are from Seattle, but still almost everyone wants you to leave and take your ineffective/counterproductive “protests” elsewhere.
Why no arrests?
Is the SPD making any real effort to identify the people who do these things, and hold them accountable?
quit trashing our neighborhood you bastards!! So pathetic! I for one would love to see the police kick the shit out of these so-called anarchists.
protest, vote, blog, but stop trashing our f’ing ‘hood and leaving your mess for the rest of us who may agree with you and also starting to hate you.
The link basically says that robbing banks = struggle for freedom. right ……
Question for you, since you seem to be pro this type of thing.
Littering Broadway helps some Greek dude (who may or may not have robbed a bank) how exactly?
From what I can tell, this is just some stupid sh*t.
They got me! I am so stoked. I am COMPLETELY ON BOARD with this protest topic! Trashing neighborhoods and displaying disrespect for ANYONE around me always really gets me involved in a cause. GREAT campaign — annoying assholes! Move along please, produce in society or leave.
Let’s toss paper into the air and run away under wind-diffused smokescreen like dull-witted ninjas!
I like the banner, and don’t mind the politics behind anarchy, but this comes off like lame otaku pranks and leaves no actual substance behind.
Trust fund vigilante “activists” are the worst.
“And to the above commenter: the anarchists are from Seattle. Deal with it, dog.”
How do you expect trashing the area to encourage “solidarity”? We don’t give a shit about banks or chain stores in Seattle but you do realize that the activities you consider inspiring are laughable to the rest of us?
Yeah, breaking the windows of a Starbucks, throwing flyers in an area where nobody’s going to pick up and read the soggy mess, or flinging paintbombs around is really “smashing the system”, dog.
Perhaps you should triage the system? Perhaps you should try to do something that might actually get people to think?
I haven’t been on Broadway today and was wondering if this mess is still out there. As someone who constantly picks up garbage and paints over graffiti around the hood, this really pisses me off!
More state-endorsed violence is not a solution.
I would enjoy seeing their parents get a call, though.
“The link basically says that robbing banks = struggle for freedom. right …… “
Well, financial institutions ARE complicit in a lot of what’s going wrong in our country.
There is however a big difference between scheming of ways to disempower and/or bring down Goldman Sachs and duh hurrrrr throwing lightbulbs filled with attractive housepaint at the bank on the corner.
Like consumers have any fucking power over bank lobbyist entrenchment in DC.
So the guy/girl in the fourth photo clutching his/her bag tightly (you know, Broadway is a bad area and he/she doesn’t want it stolen), doesn’t want their shoes shown. My bet is they are of the $200+ type and they’re embarassed to be seen in them. Goes against the whole money = evil thing. Or somebody might spray paint them.
I used to find anarchists amusing, now I think they’re pathetic. There’s a few out there who still hold true to the principles, but the wannabees we’re seeing here are just pitiful. Ya lose a lot of respect for them when their parade has a police escort and the folks riding in it on bikes are wearing helmets. I’ve seen doctors and lawyers on hogs with more guts than that.
So, as in years past, these ‘anarchists’ too will realize that they aren’t original or special. That it’s been done before and will be again. They’ll grow up and melt into society and when their kids start dressing in black or wearing a mohawk, they’ll throw their hands up and blame the school system, then move deeper into the suburbs.
Life’s interesting that way…
What a bunch cowards. If you want to create change work for it. Don’t trash my neighborhood and run away. I hope you are caught get your ass kicked!
You are a tool.
You are an idiot.
First of all they littered the neighborhood with the fucking cement and sidewalk and hideous condos and prying adverts. Paper should be the last of your worries, unless of course you have something to gain from all of those things.
Second you are either a cop or you are blind if you hope they are beaten up. If something is broken people say these people are violent and need to do things peacefully. They make some noise in an intersection and you hope they are beat up? Liberals are really boring..
“So the guy/girl in the fourth photo clutching his/her bag tightly (you know, Broadway is a bad area and he/she doesn’t want it stolen), doesn’t want their shoes shown. My bet is they are of the $200+ type Goes against the whole money = evil thing.”
Shut your mouth you clown. Anarchists steal shit. Anarchists need clothes and bags too.
“I used to find anarchists amusing, now I think they’re pathetic.”
That’s cool, we’ve found you pathetic for a long time.
“There’s a few out there who still hold true to the principles, but the wannabees we’re seeing here are just pitiful.”
The only thing that is pitiful is you posting your boring comments here.
“So, as in years past, these ‘anarchists’ too will realize that they aren’t original or special. That it’s been done before and will be again. They’ll grow up and melt into society and when their kids start dressing in black or wearing a mohawk, they’ll throw their hands up and blame the school system, then move deeper into the suburbs.”
You sound bitter. Sorry, you are a burnout. Life’s interesting that way…
The guy/girl clutching the bag is one of the stupid “anarchists”.
I think the Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce should endorse a plan allowing residents of the neighborhood to preemptively kick the crap out of the loser anarchists. Such childish idiots. Absolutely misguided cowards
the spd is not interested in accountability on any level. clearly you have not been paying attention for the last thirty years.
yeah! those cowards! look at ’em scaling buildings and interrupting the monotony of a shopping area with their colored smoke and hooha! they should be writing to their senator who doesn’t give a shit because they can’t pay them off!
why don’t they stick to something that works, like protesting! remember when all of those successful protests happened after the iraq invasion that forced the us to pull out?
“You are a tool.”
Tools at least have a use and serve a purpose in this world.
yeah, and all of those letters people in wisconsin wrote to their representatives to get them to ease off the budget cuts, that really worked!
That’s exactly what a tool would say.
I agree with you. I don’t think a stick-up robbery is going to have an effect on the way for-profit banks operate.
the uh, ‘better coverage’ if you will, states, ‘…A crowd of pedestrians gathered, picking up leaflets and talking excitedly about what they had seen…’
huh? are you stoned? ok, moot question.
I’m glad to see (based on the repetitive, innane comments supporting the “protests”) that the aimless trolls that staged this massively effective demonstration (ha!) are clearly reading this blog and commenting on this post.
This way they can understand that *they* are the douches in this particular story. Way to own the narrative, b/tches…
I wonder if this won’t make them TOO embarrassed to DM their friends on Twitter from their shiny HTC Hero – you know, because having an iPhone is the same as being enslaved by the man!
“Ahhh this is so beautiful, look at that ‘anarchist’ covered in fashionably conformist hipster garb”
no, you just don’t understand the extent of our solidarity. clearly you have nothing substantial to say when the only way you can baselessly and stupidly think to discredit “these people” is to call them hipsters.
The only people discrediting hipsters is hipsters themselves.
HE ROBBED A BANK. Let’s fight for freedom/justice for someone who can’t claim “misery” as the reason for committing their crime.
Dear Seattle ‘anarchist’ ‘community’:
Don’t you understand that you are just being laughed at, every time you put on your cowardly little masks and go break windows, paint your little (oh, so clever…) slogans, and play with your fireworks (without adult supervision, I might add)?
Really, it is just done. Would you please go away and ‘promote’ your ’cause’ in a truly consumerist locale? Go find a Wal-Mart, for instance. The people of, say, Lake Tapps are far more obsessive about their stuff than the people of Capitol Hill. You will find lots of Hummers, Speedboats, and Harleys.
And if you think there is any real challenge to dealing with the Seattle police department, as if you are getting away with anything, try some small town forces. See if the cops just stand by and watch you do your thing. It would make for more interesting news.
I concur, this would be much more entertaining in the burbs. But, the problem with that plan is that they might get grounded when their parents catch them racing away from the scene on their Huffys.
1) making fun of an “anarchist community” is rich; the contextual location of this action was on a spot where vitamin water gets to sponsor community centers in the summer. give me a break.
2) being laughed at by someone with no integrity hurts less than you think it might.
“That’s exactly what a tool would say.”
Opting out of the system does not change the system.
“no, you just don’t understand the extent of our solidarity. clearly you have nothing substantial to say when the only way you can baselessly and stupidly think to discredit “these people” is to call them hipsters.”
“Solidarity” of a good twenty people is nothing to brag about. I agree that making fun of the dress is completely irrelevant to your cause, but there’s plenty of criticism to offer towards yelling “WAKE UP SHEEPLE” at the top of your lungs.
“Shut your mouth you clown. Anarchists steal shit. Anarchists need clothes and bags too.”
Hahahahahah, how is that a defense to stealing high-fashion big ticket items? You’re still consuming and devouring like a good citizen.
“yeah! those cowards! look at ’em scaling buildings and interrupting the monotony of a shopping area with their colored smoke and hooha! they should be writing to their senator who doesn’t give a shit because they can’t pay them off!”
Eh, as an art prank, something like that could be fun. Claiming it as a victory is stretching the lines of what “success” entails.
You don’t get to change the dominant paradigm by dancing around in colored smoke like some sort of cosplaying otaku warrior. Are you participating in a frat prank or a solid political statement?
Um, why are that person’s shoes blacked out?
“2) being laughed at by someone with no integrity hurts less than you think it might. “
Who are the people with integrity who you’re trying to reach? If this is all just preaching to the choir, what’s the purpose?
It’s okay for them to shop for oppressive brands, but offensive to publish photos of them wearing the same sweatshop clothing as their oppressors.
First: Let’s try not to feed the trolls too much. There seems to be a few self-identified anarchists trying to stir up some drama for the sake of drama and/or to indulge their disaffected mental state. I’m sure I’m wrong on a few cases, but overall these people aren’t full adults yet and are likely in the age range of 18 to 25. The world will do more to show them reality than words on a blog ever could.
Now I’ll dismiss my own advice for a second. ;)
Anarchy, as a social system, has only worked for a few brief days in most cases. The rare few times where it has lasted years, it still didn’t make it long enough to see the birth and death of a single generation. Interestingly, the longest-lived was an 850 person community in Denmark (about 33 years).
So: they can make their messes and scream their defiance, but it is something like a small herd of mice cursing a hurricane. Yes they’re annoying and can even be dangerous to a small enough number of people, but ultimately they have no power. If you see them organizing another mini-protest/riot/litterfest, just cross the street. If they’re being particularly destructive, take pictures or video of them and call the cops.
They’re making it clear that they don’t want to be part of our community but they keep refusing to leave. Make their lives difficult until they either go live in a forest or change their ways.
Thank you for your intelligent comments. You give us all a great sense of perspective on this issue.
they’re really only a few steps away from the obnoxious Ayn-Rand an-cap devotees as it is
I misread the beginning of this story as “An anonymous hipster sent us these pictures” —