After three weeks of vandalism, violence and protest in the city and on Capitol Hill, the Seattle Police Department is ready if a group they say is highly organized and seemingly emboldened returns to the streets this weekend.
“It concerns us that certain people are trying to exercise their first amendment rights and are being marginalized by a well organized group of a few people that are looking at this as an opportunity to commit wildness and mayhem,” SPD spokesperson Sean Whitcomb told CHS.
Whitcomb could not elaborate on specific measures being taken in East Precinct and downtown to prepare for further violence but he said SPD is ready for and expecting a repeat of recent activity. “It’s fair to say, we’re very well aware of the problem,” Whitcomb said. “We will relentlessly pursue anybody who breaks the law.”
Last Saturday night, a group of around 30 self-proclaimed anarchists marched on Broadway, attempting to break windows, throw flares at SPD cruisers and vandalize walls and windows in a 10-minute melee. Three people were arrested and booked for rioting after the late-night disturbance.
The City Attorney is currently weighing whether the arrested trio should face charges after their arrests for obstruction and rioting.
Of more interest to SPD, Whitcomb said, is the man who has been witnessed throwing objects at police multiple times during the incidents. Known for his distinctive yellow scarf, SPD says the man has eluded capture after having been seen throwing hard objects at police and then seeking refuge in the marching crowd.
Last Saturday’s Broadway event was yet another weekend visit to the Hill by the core of black-clad, bandanna-masked men and women looking to make a point about police violence in the wake of the Ian Birk shooting of JT Williams. This most recent flare-up of anti-cop activity began shape in mid-February when a marcher busted out an SPD cruiser window directly in front of the East Precinct headquarters at 12th and Pine.
“We understand that there is a lot of anger and some amount of distrust,” SPD’s Whitcomb said.
“The Williams case is done. We’re not gonna let some anarchists destroy the city that we’re sworn to protect.”
There are currently no permitted marches related to police violence planned for the city this weekend and none of the area’s anarchist web sites is promoting an event.
this again.
God, I hate teenagers.
So, what did those shops, or the light rail construction site, have to do with the SPD?
Please beat these trust-fund baby douches senseles. Love, Chim.
“Last Saturday night, a group of around 30 self-proclaimed anarchists marched on Broadway,”
I’m sorry, was there some sort of a press release or did this people contact you to proclaim themselves anarchists?
I would like to encourage Seattle’s finest to kick ass and take names if this particular crowd of douchebags show up again. If they’re shorthanded I would in fact be happy to help.
The group has a web site and made a statement on it that they were the ones that did it.
The comments section sounds like you all need a little more fiber in your diet.
So why don’t you pursue the murderer that was on your own force?
Until Diaz and O’Neill are gone: Fuck you SPD
You don’t have a cause, you don’t have any politics, you’re a bunch of snotty babies.
Eh? I’m not a bunch of snotty anything. I’m a single organism. In future, to avoid confusion, please refrain from referring to me in the plural.
Thank you. All of you, mausies.
Even if some top brass at SPD are fired (unlikely), it will not make a difference because you hate the police in general and that’s not gonna change. Grow up and do something actually constructive with your life.
Pot calling the kettle black maus.
Time to let it go, stop looking for reasons to hate authority and contribute to society. People might then take you more seriously.
“The City Attorney is currently weighing whether the arrested trio should face charges after their arrests for obstruction and rioting.”
LOL! Will there be an inquest?
Really though, why don’t the police fear for their lives with this group. I mean yellow-scarf guy is throwing hard objects at them and has a crowd of reinforcement. Seems more dangerous than a wood carver walking alone.
If you’re gonna go balls out SPD, then you might as well put the trigger happy officers on this one. What’s gonna happen? Oh that’s right, people will freak out because you shot some white kids. Try it.
See, the anarchist kids are predominately white and are complaining about how the SPD oppresses people (predominately people of color). Add some personal credibility to their cause, SPD. Get down with these assholes and stop letting them punk you SPD. Do it for John T. Williams. Do it for equality.
But no. What does the SPD do instead? They follow these anarchists around while they throw things at them and set shit on fire while considering whether or not they should even press charges. Oh my.
Go on try and bust up this old fogie’s house, loser. We’ll get a great look at your diet as you’re puking it up on the sidewalk, begging me not curb stomp you.
Isn’t referring to a group of anarchists as “highly organized” a contradiction in terms?
Ruff tuff cream puff.
I had to satisfy some curiosity about this group so I glanced at their website which is advertising a meeting at the Vera Project. It strikes me as counterproductive for the City and County (4Culture) to be listed as donors on Vera’s website (let alone lots of other orgs/companies) as long as group members commit crimes. The Vera Project is probably great and I’d support any group meeting there (in a publicly owned building no less) as long as they were peaceful or even non-violently disruptive. I suggest that donors (including the City and Council Councils) let Vera know that they expect Vera to support positive movements for the region’s youth even those that are controversially but peaceful.
Vera donors: http://theveraproject.org/donate/donor_list/
meeting notice for Puget Sound Anarchists GENERAL ASSEMBLY: TUESDAY, MARCH 8TH 8-10 PM
at The Vera Project, 305 Harrison Street, Seattle, WA 98109: http://pugetsoundanarchists.org/node/245
Looks like the SPD-bozos couldn’t keep their willy’s in their pants.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SegbBl9zYtQ&feature=player_em
“It concerns us that certain people are trying to exercise their first amendment rights and are being marginalized by a well organized group of a few people that are looking at this as an opportunity to commit wildness and mayhem,” SPD spokesperson Sean Whitcomb told CHS.
I’d like to know why these supposed anarchists (in Nike shoes drinking Coke products and collecting State food stamps) aren’t picketing the City Attorney. Attack the head, not the feet, of the beast. Duh.
Correction. Typo. Ugh.
“no u” and “fuck pigs” are not a cause nor a means to an end.
do you think throwing paint vials is going to get justice? it’s masturbatory.
I agree completely.
The Board of the Vera Project (if they have one) should pull the plug on these violent people and deny them meeting space in their facility. If not, they are implicitly condoning their illegal activities.
Reality check:
The cause of the so-called anarchist “violence” is the long record and history of the greater violence of state-sanctioned and -legitimized police brutality and murder. If the pigs stop killing people, people will not be forced to respond in ways that make cowardly liberals uncomfortable. Personally, I value the lives of my neighbors more than I do, say, a window or a chair.
I am no anarchist and I do not agree with their methods and theories, but on this issue I stand with those who oppose police brutality, police murder, and police terrorism. It saddens me that so many who consider themselves “progressive” or even “liberal” espouse such right wing and racist views. It also saddens me that these same folks choose the easy route: submission to social control by the state rather than solidarity with the victims of violence. But then again, these are the same folks who think Obama is progressive.
The US has one of the most powerful and entrenched police systems in the world. No wonder that the “world’s greatest democracy” also has a higher prison population than any other country in the world and executes more of its own citizens than any other country in the world. The American police system developed out of the system of slave patrols in the antebellum South and its function has changed very little since then.
One of the most effective methods for social control that the US and its subsidiary governments is the “divide and conquer” method. The state undermines our strength, cohesion, and effectiveness by dividing us against each other. The pigs interact with people in certain neighborhoods and among certain social categories differently. For example, the pigs interact with white folks in Bellevue in vastly different ways than they do with people of color in Pioneer Square. When you interact positively with the cops, you tend to “like” them, to support them in questions on which you have little factual information and oppose those who make accusations against the pigs. Add to this a corporate media that, within one hour of the John T. Williams murder, was already helping to create a pro-pig narrative and to slander the murder victim. Check the videos of the initial news reporting and the pigs’ statements against the facts found by the inquest. Add to this the political choice of the corporate media to treat each and every incident of police misconduct in isolation and as a separate and discreet event (the bad apple narrative). This particular method assaults rationality at a time when there are so many high profile confirmed reports of police brutality, murder, and terrorism just here in Seattle AND an ongoing investigation by the FBI. It takes an effort to get you to believe there is no problem with the pigs in Seattle when there is.
May you and your loved ones never be assaulted, attacked, beaten, tortured, or murdered by a pig.
Props to SPD for heping me out when I was beaten, assualted, and tortued by ‘pigs’, in this case iIwill use that term to describe the maniacs murdering thievesthat walked in to my home and had their way with me kicking the shit out of me nigh on 3 years ago. You are a moron Barney Fife.