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(Image: Alex Garland/CHS)
With reporting by Hannah Saunders
Seattle Police moved on counter-protesters at a fundamentalist Christian group’s rally Saturday afternoon in Cal Anderson Park. Multiple arrests and injuries were reported.
Groups were in the park to protest against a provocative rally organized by a Spokane fundamentalist church. CHS reported here on the planned “#DontMessWithOurKids” rally.
The clash with police came hours into the gathering as a phalanx of bicycle police moved into position near the front of a large crowd of counter-protesters near the rally stage and suddenly advanced on the crowd using their bikes and batons.
SPD said officers were being targeted by objects they say were being thrown by the protesters as the department reported the arrests in the park via social media. Protesters had also reportedly popped a balloon at the church group’s rally in the moments before the melee.
Counter-protesters told CHS they were at the park Saturday to defend LGBTQ and reproductive rights.
UPDATE 3:58 PM: Clashes have continued in the park with police deploying pepper spray on protesters. SPD reports additional arrests amid thrown objects and reports of toppled fencing around the event.
UPDATE 6:04 PM: Seattle Police have requested “mutual aid” and have been joined by the Washington State Patrol in the park as the rally has continued and protests have continued around it. New rules passed earlier this year by the city council require outside agencies like WSP to follow SPD’s command in crowd control situations.
Rally organizers have been passing around buckets requesting donations from attendees.
UPDATE 7:20 PM: Seattle’s mayor has taken the unusual step of putting out a statement on the day’s police activity lauding free speech — and blaming unrest in the crowd on “anarchists” who the mayor says “infiltrated the counter-protestors group.”
“I am grateful for those who make their voices heard in support of our neighbors without resorting to violence,” Harrell said in the statement. “In the face of an extreme right-wing national effort to attack our trans and LGBTQ+ communities, Seattle will continue to stand unwavering in our embrace of diversity, love for our neighbors, and commitment to justice and fairness.”
In the statement, Harrell said police asked rally organizers to end the event early because of the conflict “which they did.”
The permits for the rally event are also being scrutinized, Harrell said Saturday night. The mayor says he has asked the parks department to “review all of the circumstances of this application to understand whether there were legal location alternatives or other adjustments that could have been pursued.”
New Seattle Police Chief Shon Barnes is not mentioned in the statement. Coming to Seattle following his leadership of the Madison, Wisconsin police department, the first major crowd control response by his officers echoed with the heavy handed and violent actions seen in the city from the department’s flawed response to the 2020 protests. Saturday’s arrests also follow Barnes’s back pedaling over directed patrols targeting nude sunbathers at Denny Blaine Park.
Harrell’s full statement is below:
“Seattle is proud of our reputation as a welcoming, inclusive city for LGBTQ+ communities, and we stand with our trans neighbors when they face bigotry and injustice. Today’s far-right rally was held here for this very reason – to provoke a reaction by promoting beliefs that are inherently opposed to our city’s values, in the heart of Seattle’s most prominent LGBTQ+ neighborhood.
“When the humanity of trans people and those who have been historically marginalized is questioned, we triumph by demonstrating our values through our words and peaceful protest – we lose our voice when this is disrupted by violence, chaos, and confusion.
“Anarchists infiltrated the counter-protestors group and inspired violence, prompting SPD to make arrests and ask organizers to shut down the event early, which they did.
“While there are broad First Amendment requirements around permitting events under free speech protections, I am directing the Parks Department to review all of the circumstances of this application to understand whether there were legal location alternatives or other adjustments that could have been pursued. The Police Department will complete an after-action report of this event, including understanding preparation, crowd management tactics, and review of arrests and citations.
“I am grateful for those who make their voices heard in support of our neighbors without resorting to violence. In the face of an extreme right-wing national effort to attack our trans and LGBTQ+ communities, Seattle will continue to stand unwavering in our embrace of diversity, love for our neighbors, and commitment to justice and fairness.”
UPDATE 5/25/2025 10:03 AM: SPD reports 22 people were arrested Saturday for assault and obstruction and says one officer was treated and released from the hospital for injuries sustained during the response. A juvenile was also arrested and booked for obstruction, SPD says.
The Seattle Parks and Recreation Department confirmed the permit earlier this year, disregarding the LGBTQ+ legacy of Cal Anderson Park and Capitol Hill. May Day USA organizers told CHS the group had flown into Seattle to educate the community on child human trafficking, but what they neglected to say is that it is pro-nuclear family and views Transgender people as mentally ill. Kian (who declined to provide his full name), but said he was South African, said the group was spreading the “name of Jesus and the gospel of Jesus Christ” in addition to child human trafficking.
“We really just want to love people. We’re not about any hate against anyone. Come as you are is the message of the gospel,” Kian said.
May Day USA closed its free haircuts for kids tent, but carried on its side of festivities through Jesus rock music, prayers, and anti-trans speeches.
UPDATE 5/26/2025 7:50 AM: Harrell’s leading challenger in the race to keep the mayor’s office in this year’s election has sounded off on the incumbent’s handling of the situation.
“The mayor’s primary job is to keep people safe, and that means taking action to prevent dangerous situations & violence before it starts,” political organizer and mayoral candidate Katie Wilson posted on social media Monday morning. “A fundamentalist, anti-trans ‘family values’ protest never should have been permitted in the heart of Seattle’s historic LGBTQ neighborhood.”
In the statement, Wilson also took the mayor’s office for task for having no representative on hand at the event.
“We have so many years of experience with demonstrations in Seattle, there’s no excuse,” Wilson writes. “We can do better.”
The Seattle police union is also ripping into Harrell as it continues its long-running campaign to increase spending on hiring and retention at the department and loosen oversight even after it successfully secured a lucrative new contract last year.
“SPOG welcomes a mayoral review of yesterday’s Seattle Parks Department’s decision to allow a demonstration permit for families who wanted to exercise their 1st amendment rights at Cal Anderson Park,” the Seattle Police Officers Guild statement reads. “What we are struggling to understand is, why was this park chosen and authorized, especially when this park is commonly known as the heart of ANTIFA land.”
“We have no doubt that this city decision, as naïve or deliberate as it was, put police officers in an untenable predicament,” the SPOG statement continues. “Whether it’s our job or not, we were once again ordered to put ourselves into a political quagmire. SPOG understands we will once again get blamed, and more calls will be heard for more accountability. This is Seattle’s public safety political reality.”
In the long statement, SPOG goes on to claim SPD does not have “the proper staffing to handle any more of these demonstrations that turn into mass arrests” and complains Seattle “lacks the political will” to “allow police to use the necessary tools to hold back criminal mobs to protect life and property.”
Meanwhile, a Seattle-based Christian group is organizing a rally Tuesday at Seattle City Hall to protest Harrell’s statements following Saturday’s arrests in which the mayor called the Christian event in the park a “right-wing” gathering. Organizers from Pursuit NW, a charismatic Christian church with locations including the University District, are calling on supporters to rally Tuesday evening outside city hall to demand Harrell apologize — or resign.
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There was nothing I saw directed at police. There were a couple water balloons thrown by the counter protesters at the fascists. Total overreaction by SPD.
And we just gave them a raise too.
Things can happen even if you didn’t see them. Luckily police have body cameras so if they’re telling the truth about this one the video will show it.
IF the body cams were on and functioning properly, that is…
If they threw balloons, maybe don’t do that next time. It makes the anti side look stupid.
Water balloons and other liquid devices should never be used that way. Since police don’t know what’s in them, of course they’re going to assume the worst (flammable?!) and respond accordingly.
The most effective way to protest a purportedly religious, family-focused event such as this is probably to just quietly hold signs. No fun, I know.
Effective in what capacity and to what extent? One of the major ironies of all this jawboning is that people who protest/counter are doing so according to their own theory of politics so that…
A. Liberals think an effective protest is just being visible period and that anything that follows and flows from that should wind up in a ballot box. Highly speculative to the point of just being a half ass wish with several leaps and assumptions about others, when it’s just ‘be the light you want to see in the world’, same as any other partisan. I’m dubious just because any protest that ever won anything wasn’t singular and was routinely attacked by all comers and even people who ostensibly supported the goals, and it was forcing electoral hands in The State that didn’t start off supportive and weren’t seated to be supportive. LBJ wasn’t some antiracist radical bolt-on to the Kennedy ticket to shore up the inner city votes, quite the fucking opposite.
B. Communists (State oriented) think an effective protest is recruiting off of it. See PSL/FSRO/etc etc throwing their hat in and trying to be at the forefront and routinely barfing on themselves and never really gaining and holding numbers around inflection. But they’ll keep trying to be the vanguard party that ushers in a revolution, and I don’t see it.
C. Anarchists (Many Antifascists) think an effective protest is making it so the opposing side doesn’t want to protest or fight them and stand down, through direct inflection and dishing out more than they take. It doesn’t happen nearly often enough that way because there’s not that many inflections, practice, and all their adversaries are paid or ideologically driven as they are. The idea is that if you impose a cost on chuds, they will wind themselves down to avoid more costs, if you impose a cost on cops they will not be eager to be on riot line for months even with banking OT. In this case, that clearly didn’t happen and in general it doesn’t but there are cases where chuds will drop out of the scene of active fascist partisan shit if they don’t want to keep having to hand fight antifascists. Cops do retire when retiring is good and they’re done dealing with 5 foot nothing queers who aren’t giving up even if its going real shitty.
And to sum it all up, of course nothing is effective if we’re measuring it on taking and holding change for the better – almost anyone in their 40s and a Liberal pulse can tell you their votes since 2000 weren’t consequentially effective out here, many protest events and movements have come and gone without effect, doing nothing is also quite ineffective.
So what I’m getting at is what you do when there’s no silver bullets, and how do you even attempt to measure objective fulfillment at this point?
You. I like you; you get it.
Perhpas you should take a look at the video again. There was zero physical violence from the people at the Christian Rally. It all came from the surrounding protestors.
Historical note: Fascists have been against religions of all sorts. If that’s the litmus test for fascism…
“Fascists have been against religions of all sorts.” That’s a big swing and a miss. Mussolini’s Fascist Italy, Franco’s Fascist Spain…
More clownfoolery from clown PD. Not to mention the city that granted these eastern WA wackos a permit in the first place. Hello, McFly like that was a good idea.
Who is running this city? Barnum & Bailey?
Exactly. I mean, I do think there were many things our counter protesters could have done so much better, like committing to non-violence and letting Unitarian/Lutheran groups lead the counter protests. That way, when cops decided to escalate, the visuals would have been of them attacking religious groups. Also, I would have met them with signs with quotes from their own Bible pointing out the hypocrisy of their movement. As it stands, unfortunately, it seems like they gave them the fodder they wanted in order to recruit people to their movement.
“Also, I would have met them with signs with quotes from their own Bible pointing out the hypocrisy of their movement.”
So why didn’t you? Where were you? Where were the Unitarians and Lutherans?
There were plenty of protesters carrying signs quoting the bible and pointing out religious hypocrisy. I spoke to some nice United Methodists who were hanging out with a Catholic priest, and I saw more than one witch, but no Unitarians or Lutherans. I suppose if they had showed up you’d be demanding Buddhists and Sufis.
This was a nonviolent protest until SPD escalated.
I wasn’t there because the best way to deal with these people is to starve them of the attention they crave. They use confrontation as recruitment tools. You knew the police would help them do so, because they always do.
The fact is, they weren’t going to recruit people in the neighborhood, so let them have their hissy fit and move on. If no one showed up, they wouldn’t have videos to show everyone making themselves look like the victims of an angry leftist, anti-free speech mob. Now they do, so the protesters and police helped them achieve their goal.
Right on!
No one show up? So drive us out of the park we would normally be in on one of the rare Seattle sunny days we have to endure all the terrible winter ones just to enjoy in our own park? While they blast music that sucks and talk about going to war after anti-lesbian speeches on the land that celebrates on of our icons?
Nah, I’m a bit sick of this idea that we should be driven off our own public land as residents of Seattle. We wanted to party there on a nice day, too. They could’ve been pro-Jesus without hate speech just like the few brave trans individuals who peacefully joined their worship (with trans flags AND a sign that said “We love Jesus too”), as they too were Christians, to attempt to talk through differences.
A lot the punk kids just wanted their park, too. The actual kids. Comparatively few minors were actually on their side. The main speakers consistently used his child as a prop – what they often complain we do even though most of the minors at the counter protest came of their own volition – due to being in the LGBT community themselves. The bands performing often perform in this park and shouldn’t need to leave due to this group’s hate speech. So of course, many adults who live here showed up to ensure would get to safely party on the other side of the field – simply protesting with dancing and rocking out. Many signs were simply telling trans children they would be the adults that ensure this is a safe place.
There were plenty of peaceful protestors. Including some of the innocent bystanders police harmed.
I was there because I would have been there on any beautiful Saturday. Some people stick around for their only home and don’t flee it because some out-of-towners come to scare people talking about gearing up for “war”. Some people just showed up to their regular park that day were straight up appalled by what they saw being done in it. Many who weren’t aware of what was happening already said “this feels like an invasion.”
That’s why my first comment was if you show up, you need to be tactical. These photos of police cracking down on what Middle Americans will see as Antifa punks dressed all in black with weird hair? That’s exactly what the religious group wanted to capture.
Or, you know, just keep doing what you’re doing because it’s just fun, and continue to lose the messaging war, as evidenced by our country quickly going backwards.
Maggie, is the messaging war where Democrats constantly try to beat the charges they’re far left pinko commies by buttressing the police apparatus, and fail, still getting lumped in with far left pinko commies…who don’t even vote?
Am I speaking to a wall? No, I literally said what I would have recommended. I don’t know how to get rid of the Black Bloc kids, but Seattle protesters need to find a way to marginalize them, as they’ve become scapegoats the right uses to paint themselves as victims. Say what you want about boomers, but they understood the importance of optics during their civil rights marches. Seattle still doesn’t.
Lmao, no they didnt, what ahistorical nonsense is this even?
Read “Witness to the Revolution,” by Clara Bingham. It’s an oral history of the 1960s protests told by the organizers. They detail what worked and what didn’t. You can laugh at them, but they got us our civil rights, while the modern left’s tactics have seen loss after loss. I have no idea why you’re in denial about that.
Again yes. Thank you Maggie. You have it right.
It’s a public park, and they had a legal permit to be there. They didn’t throw anything at the counter protesters. I don’t like that they were there, either, but everything they did was legal.
When you start to say things like they don’t belong in our park…well, you sound just like them. Maybe reflect on that.
You might want to familiarize yourself with the Paradox of Tolerance before trying to make comparisons like that. You’ll sound (and be) smarter.
Got it, so you’re one of those armchair activists who doesn’t actually do anything themselves, but does take time out of their day to criticize how everyone else is going about it. If you’ve got the solution, how about you pick up a megaphone for once and illuminate the way? Please, by all means.
One thing I think you’re failing to acknowledge is that these people are capitalists by nature. If they didn’t have crowds they’d find another means of victimizing themselves; there would be another spin. Some of the people attending also seemed like they legitimately didn’t really know what they were supporting — I wish cops hadn’t swept us and put up a barricade after the first little while, because I was actually having their people approach me wanting to discuss our views, and my words seemed to make them actually think.
Nope, I’ve actually attended many protests during the Trump Administration and flew to DC to take part in the Women’s March, but thanks for your reductionist take! I just didn’t see this group of crazy on their face religious nuts as a threat to anyone and am familiar enough with the tactics of these groups to know when starving them of the attention they crave is the best move.
Matt Shea is so extreme that even Republicans stripped him of his duties in the House. He wrote a manifesto stating his followers should kill all men who get in the way of their attempts to overthrow the government and replace it with theocracy. He’s not a threat to us until he gets the attention of lunatics like Trump and Bongino, which he did thanks to the attention this protest got.
Saying “these people are capitalists by nature” is one of those hyperbolic statements that tells me nothing. What do you even mean by that? If you have a point, just state it. What exactly would they have done to claim victimhood if they held a rally and no one showed up, or if they were met with purely peaceful crowd who didn’t decide to try to drown them out with antics but let them speak while quietly holding signs? We have history to teach us what works and what doesn’t.
“He wrote a manifesto stating his followers should kill all men who get in the way of their attempts to overthrow the government and replace it with a theocracy”
And all you came up with in a post above that is “Lets do Matt Shea’s work more peacefully using marginalization against the only people willing to fight him physically if need be”
Why is the only thing y’all can come up with boil down to ‘punch left to avoid potential blows from the right’?
“Matt Shea is so extreme that even Republicans stripped him of his duties in the House.”
“He’s not a threat to us until he gets the attention of lunatics like Trump and Bongino, which he did thanks to the attention this protest got.”
This somehow makes sense to you?
Did SPD escalate or did the usual black bloc anarchists escalate? I don’t know. I would like to know from someone who was there.
The arrests I saw were of people who were protesting peacefully and were tackled, cuffed and dragged off by SPD. Black bloc weren’t involved.
I was there for 7 hours. It was the cops. End of story.
I was there when it blew up, not on purpose but because I happened to be walking home and usually go right along the BB / tennis court area.
From what I saw a couple water balloons got tossed towards the christofascists but just hit the ground. I did see a tall guy in all black sprint from the other side of the park, who was also the first person the cops went after. I expect he was an agitator, and I noticed 4 or 5 of them in the crowd of otherwise peaceful counter protesters. I’d be curious to know who he is and what group he was with. Pretty lame move to lead a gang of cops into a peaceful crowd of counter protesters.
Lutheran groups? What? Maybe this makes sense somehow but would like to hear more. Your post overall does kind of make sense: Fight dumb religion with smart religion. And yes they gave them the fodder. So damn much fodder. When will protesters validly protesting let the black bloc anarchists let them know they are completely not welcome and kick them out on their collective ass? Fuck black bloc anarchists.
Stumpy, dont you think its a bit hilarious to imagine people who are manifestly non confrontational on purpose, using their first and only sparks of confrontation, against Bloc, and never doing it again nos that they have protests as they imagine they should be?
Actually cannot parse this. Try again?
Like imagine throwing one punch in your life on a bloc partisan, landing it, sending the whole crew scurrying, and then you turn around and hold a sign that politely tells fascists you dont approve of how theyre doing things in total silence.
Like cmon man, why not just go punch fascists at this point, lmao?
Okie doke. I’d punch a fascist but point is what?
My grandfather was an Episcopalian minister who founded the first progressive women’s college in Maine, so while I’m an atheist, I know enough about the religious groups that are liberal. My relative’s trans boyfriend is a Lutheran, and leads a progressive church group. The Unitarian groups my friends attended on the east coast were also liberal.
So I’m not just a couch potato liberal who doesn’t care about trans rights. In fact, I’ve spent the last two days engaging with conservatives on Komo under the handle SPULies. I think I’ve left at least 300 comments trying to educate them about Matt Shea and his beliefs and annoying the crap out of them. I was also the only liberal who jumped into the fray to argue in favor of trans kids competing in sports. Even the two other liberals there disagreed with me.
Just because I disagree with the left taking the bait regarding this group does not mean I’m lazy or uninvolved in fighting for trans rights. People can disagree, but I feel like the arguments I made and facts I provided were more impactful than holding up bumper sticker slogans and providing them with the video footage they craved.
Yes thanks for your further explanation. I did not mean to diss you in any way. I just didn’t understand the Lutheran part. Having been raised fanatically Catholic, I am maybe a bit touchy when religion enters the picture but was just trying to ask. Your comments seem always solid.
Oh, no problem and thanks for saying so. My last two paragraphs weren’t directed at you, just a response to the hits I’ve been taking from other commenters who think their way to resist is the only way and that anyone who critiques their approach must “obviously” be less invested or lazy.
SPD reported on Twitter that they have requested help from Washington State Patrol
I hope they don’t come
Narrator: But they did come.
Racist and anti trans cops protecting the right wing idiots causing problems? Noooo can’t be
The ACAB narrative is really simplistic and tiring.
Yes
Get over it
You mean get over your continual ACAB bullshit?
and yet, it has a great deal of explanatory power, so you’re going to keep hearing it for years to come.
The far right media is going to use today’s clash as evidence Seattle is unruly, which could encourage a crackdown from the feds. Protests are more impactful when they are peaceful.
The only violence was committed by SPD.
That’s what I saw as well. A few people occasionally breached the fence over the course of the afternoon, but at the end, the crowd was peaceful until the SPD charged.
I wasn’t there but from reports sounds untrue. Black bloc anarchists as always getting in the way of solid peaceful protests.
I was there, and the cop charge at 6:45 happened ten feet from me. So yeah, don’t believe me if you want, but if you weren’t there, and you don’t believe people who were there, then… yeah, I don’t know what to tell you.
Can you give us your report on what actually happened? Sincerely asking. What was black bloc role in it if any? I am supportive of protests but black bloc always divert what we’re trying to achieve. Was black bloc just standing around whistling while all other parties fighting it out?
lol, you’re the white moderate who woulda been clucking their tongue about MLK back in the day for disrupting the peace.
Yeah….”don’t mess with our kids”…’cause they need to turn out just as stupid as their bigoted small-minded parents…
I dont agree with them but they’ll point at laws that say that schools can not (or must not, depending on jurisdiction) tell parents about their kids’ desire to transition. Laws that assume all parents are shitty are not good laws.
Harrell’s statement was really well done. About as good a statement as could have been made. I hope the action that must follow it is equally well executed.
I noticed he didn’t say one bad word about the rally or its organizers, and made it seem like they legally law-abiding citizens who were not actually a hate group protected by both police and armed security guards and led by an ex-politician who has a history of domestic terrorism.
Instead, he blamed the violence on “anarchists” rather than everyday people who were trying to stand up to the hate groups.
Free speech is the government not censoring you. People have every right to react as they should without getting assaulted by the police that they pay for (and that the protestors do not).
Antifa and the allies had options to peacefully counter-protest. All of the rest of the park was available to counter-rally. A human chain of people standing in silence could have been performed. Standing in mourning against the hate speech. All that could have been done. But instead – antifa predictably showed up in bloc and was ready to give SPD all the justification SPD needed. Maybe try not being so easy to be trolled? Maybe prove you are better? And, much as it might annoy you, the church group has a 1A right in a public park. You don’t get to “Shut it down” just because you hate their words. That’s not 1A, that’s a riot. SPD reacted appropriately once antifa gave them reason to.
People like to talk a lot about freedom of speech, all the while forgetting about freedom of/from religion. The separation between church and state is spelled out very explicitly in the doctrine of our country. Screeching about America being a White Christian Nation is an inherent infringement upon everyone else’s 1A rights, and should be shut down wherever and whenever it’s seen — by force, if needed. Protecting everyone’s basic freedoms means not allowing the proliferation of hate speech which serves exclusively to undermine the fundamental constitutional rights of all people.
I cannot imagine a more fundamental misunderstanding of constitutional rights than that just stated by you. The first amendment protects their right to “screech” that America is a white christian nation in that setting: a public park. You do not have the right to shut them down, by force or otherwise. Don’t listen. Speak your truth. Wave a flag. But let them speak.
Is it really a “clash with police” if the police appear to have been the primary instigators of violence? The photos really aren’t backing up a narrative of protesters starting something.
I was there at the end, and from what I saw, 90% of the rally had left and the crowd was shouting but peaceful when the cops suddenly surged forward and grabbed a guy who was standing ten feet from me (and not doing anything, except he was dressed in black). After that the crowd got angry and the chant went from “Trans rights are human rights” to “Fuck the fascists.” Did SPD decide that violence was likely so they wanted to start it on their terms? That’s what it looked like to me.
So blac bloc once again taking over meaningful protests for their own anarchist goals?
I’d say SPD was not interested in a CHAZ-CHOP do-over, broke things up by picking on some of the likely instigators, and dispersed the angry mob of people who stayed behind successfully.
First, there was no chance of a CHAZ-CHOP do-over. We weren’t near the police precinct HQ, the crowd wasn’t that big, and it was peaceful. Also, the “angry mob of people” wasn’t angry until the cops charged.
Ironically, after that the cops tried to leave but were having trouble doing so because they were being pressed by the crowd. Had they not charged, they would probably have been able to leave without any problems. Just before they charged, I was actually impressed and pleased that it seemed like things were going to end peacefully.
CHAZ-CHOP began on the corner of 11th and Pine, and in Cal Anderson Park. It took a few days for the encampment and nightly skirmish line to form up. That’s what SPD and Harrell are trying to avoid happening again. So far, successfully.
You’ve got that backward: the nightly battles with the cops came first, after they decided to block a protest march and make themselves the center of attention; only after SPD gave up on the whole thing and abandoned their precinct did CHOP and the encampments begin.
The guys in bloc showed up to riot. Head to toe in black, padding, goggles, gas masks, helmets, black umbrellas. That’s not free speech, that’s a riot costume.
That’s someone who knows how SPD operates and planned accordingly… I get what you’re saying about the image it presents, but do you want to try flipping that question on the cops, who showed up in full riot gear with pepperball guns and batons at the ready? I wish I’d at least brought an aerosol mask — SPD was super trigger-happy with the pepper aerosols. They got their own guys, they got kids in the religious crowd; it was a mess. Meanwhile, the most violent action anyone here can seem to name on the counter-protest side is some kid hocking a half-empty water bottle. But no, yeah, blame it on the bloc. Are you kidding? You’re kidding. Please tell me you’re kidding.
Kudos to SPD keeping a lid on tempers and not letting this turn into a riot, like both sides so desperately would have liked.
As to “both sides so desperately would have liked,” please speak for yourself on that but your nihilism advances nothing positive.
The churchies wanted a charged response and received exactly that. CHS Online/FB, Reddit, discord had rallied to disrupt this event. Everything played out exactly as one might have expected.
Being a national X feed, Instagram, TicToc, Fox News et al of police arresting “liberals” “progressives” “Democrat” for interfering with a church group “just trying to protect kids” advances nothing positive.
One day you’re going to think about how much you tried tap dance your way out of being on the butt end of fash propaganda.
There’s no both sides. There’s anti humanity and then not. Those aren’t sides
Sounds a lot like “If you aren’t with us, you’re against us.”
Know what matters a lot more than these displays of performative violence and rebellion? Voting. In every election. Something you under 35 people routinely fail to do, repeatedly. So perhaps do more work to get your peers engaged there, and less of this ridiculous Cosplay protest you love so well.
Wow Grandpa, I wonder why nobody listened to you about this for 35+ years.
“You under thirty-five people” 😂 Thanks for that laugh. Also, though less funny, there’s the irony of you not seeing that taking sides during Trump II is not something anyone can avoid. Not taking a side is taking a side. Believe me, if some of the people on my side acted wrongly I’m ready to call them out, but I’ll still be on a side, thank you very mucho.
you are really triggered.
you just dream up scenarios
I mean, if the request was granted, show up and shout louder without projectiles. This district doesn’t know how to play people, it takes the bait and reacts as expected. The Hill just antagonizes and sours a national progressive narrative. Seattle looks stupid in media spin aimed at the masses. Matt and Jenn in middle America consumes social media clips of the disfunction and it’s likely not for them and are pushed away in support.
If the permit was processed and allowed by the City, hit it policy officially before and after, Do better at politicking and write the narrative.
Shame on Seattle Parks for tearing out the BLM gardens just to turn around and permit the space to events like this.
That “garden” was a mess. So glad it’s gone.
Those small gardens had more life and polinators plus way more community members getting together in the park than all the other “landscaped” areas in Cal Anderson combined.
I see the rat den infested bushes around the park that gather gnawed bits of trash as the mess, but SPR agreed with you and told them they had to go to a different park… kind of like they could have done with this group. Except both times SPR used militarized police forces to protect the status quo system that benefits from a system of marginalization.
What? There was never anyone there and it was just a bunch of weeds after a few months…
True. This “garden” was a stupid mess and Matt will never let go of what it was in his imagination.
Those gardens were typically full of plants that had been grown elsewhere, brought in and stuck into the ground for a few days for social media. They were already dead and dying. Nobody grew a season worth of corn or tomatoes or anything else at the garden location. The only thing they were farming was likes, retweets, and monetization.
You clearly spend all your time below Broadway and living in your head, because none of that is true, please talk to a therapist and get outside and talk to real people.
Corn and tomatoes are indigenous to South America and factory farmed the world over, why grow that in a demonstration garden in the PNW when those are easily found in any grocery store! This garden had at least monthly gatherings with folks in the garden, more frequent in the summer. There were often young families (some of the organizers were young families themselves) and lots of community sharing of knowledge on sustainable land use and native plantings.
Being a policeman or policewoman is a tough job. They seemed to have handled this impossible situation pretty well. Seattle is a hard place to police given the radicalization of a significant contingent of the far left, history of protests turning violent, and weak leadership.
Fighting for “justice” against “fascism” is not unlike fighting for “God” against “evil”. Black and white framing on either side is a recipe for violence unless you have a strong leader that can channel that energy into non-violent action.
For those that are going to be triggered by this comment, what was the alternative to police intervening once provocateurs started throwing things at the other side? Should the police have let the counter-protestors attack the rally and just stood by and watched? What if it led to gun violence with both sides claiming self defense? What was accomplished here other than the expression of anger and emotion?
While I support the left’s position on this issue, I am weary that Capitol Hill will once again become the epicenter of political theater that attracts black bloc losers, sets back the movement, destroys the neighborhood, and makes us a cautionary tale that the right will use in propaganda clips. Why do we always take the bait? Hopefully the City finds another place for people to hold political rallies. Cal Anderson Park and Capitol Hill needs a cool down and some love.
so the alternative would be cops not being there at all. both groups have the right to be there, and things didn’t start getting violent until the cops started attacking people. when you say you support the left’s position on this issue, what issue are you talking about? trans rights? the right to counter protest? the right to not be brutalized by police? in all of the pictures, cops are clearly shown as the agitators. I don’t believe that cops should protect people coming into this city to spout hateful bullshit about trans people while brutalizing the citizens of this city. who are they protecting and serving? it certainly isn’t Seattle residents.
YES to everything you said! Why were the cops there in riot gear from the outset? Why did they need state troopers and the nation guard against a group of people with signs? Because… someone threw a water bottle? Someone knocked over a fence (and didn’t cross it after)? Does no one understand the concept of REASONABLE force these days? They showed up ready & ITCHING to brutalize counter protesters. One of the most uniquely abusive PDs in the nation.
Trans rights are human rights. Period. I support trans civil rights and liberty 100%. I do not support patriarchal antifa, who insert themselves in every liberal cause and show up to physically defend leftists, because they think we can’t defend ourselves, because they think we’re weak, and they don’t respect our sense of self. Progressives need to make antifa unwelcome at our gatherings. Their endless need to start and incite violence is disrespectful to us and OUR cause–not the other side’s. I’ve no doubt the cops pre-arrested antifa, because they’ve been on this ride before: Antifa definitely would have started fighting, they definitely would have started spray painting and destroying property, they definitely would have started lighting things on fire. It’s been the same script for the 35 years I’ve lived in the Hill. The cops were 100% wrong here, no doubt, but they also avoided the inevitable riot that would have followed had it continued into the evening.
If you had been there during the second incidence of police brutality you would have seen not ANTIFA, but concerned regular citizens trying to protect those nearby from unwarranted police brutality and being attacked with pepper spray directly into their faces. You would have seen the poor woman for hours on the bench with a swollen eye just because she didn’t want to see someone’s face dragged across a metal guard rail by an officer. The videos are out there. Don’t participate in the scapegoating.
Looking at these images, yes – I no doubt I see our neighbors defending and standing up for our rights…. I also am looking at people dressed head to toe in black with goggles and masks. Antifa yea…Tell me otherwise hahaa …that is NOT welcome and *instantly* raises the bar for violent trouble. 100%
Have you considered there are more images not being posted here? People not clad in black? Please don’t tell me you are trusting these are the only images that are out there of this event.
The Christians were shouting about “War” and being soldiers after several anti-lesbian speeches. Is that not instigating violence?
There are images of very much non-ANTIFA people being dragged into this (literally dragged) by the police.
Yes if you refuse to check other social media for images that news sites are not sharing you will only see the images here or on news sites. That does not mean more do not exist. It’s really sad I have to explain that.
The second incident with the “guard rail” was not ANTIFA and most news crews felt they got their story with the first scuffle while I physically witnessed the second one. Did you?
As I wrote, “the cops were 100% wrong here”. But I can hold 2 thoughts at the same time: Antifa hijacks every single progressive protest and makes the day about them and their wants (anarchy ). They disregard the progressive cause and the people who support it because they’re there for themselves, not for the cause. They’re a patriarchal group that thinks progressives need strong-arm brown shirts for protection, even when we plead with them to go away, to not light fires, to not smash windows, etc. As a result, progressive causes are forever linked to anarchy (their goal) and not taken seriously by broader America (our goal).
ANTIFA were not the ones spraying people in their faces with pepper spray while they’re already in vulnerable positions that make for an easy arrest. I don’t like their approach either, but this would have still led to police violence quite easily without them.
This sect of Christianity was sitting on a land of a dead gay person shouting about going to war against the enemy. If cops are going to start attacking crowds because of a guard rail going from an upright position to being on the ground, they’re a bigger threat to any of us than ANTIFA is. I’ve seen unarmed security guards with better conflict de-escalation skills in a crowd and paid less.
Sounds like someone needs to evict antifa from their coalition.
Our black bloc Comrades are a cancer that should be kicked out of every rally. Plan for it. Someone, several someones, who are good at conflict mitigation … be tasked with identifying and isolating those that show up to cause physical violence, the antifa black bloc, goggled, masked, padded individual.
Next thing you know we could have a movement not turn into a riot. Imagine that.
Come and do it then just like your SPD boys.
Damn, so progressives are just liberals who can’t be charges of association with people that don’t vote for them, with more bleedy hearts?
So, in other words, the cops were not “100% wrong”.
It’s a matter of holding two thoughts in my head at the same time. I can be 100% against something, but still understand it. Example: I’m 100% against murdering a healthcare executive, but I can also understand the insanity that’s been created in our culture to drive someone to do it. Still makes it 100% wrong. Same with this scenario. Cops here are wrong, but I “get” why they pre-emptively arrested people who have always, and will always, start a riot and make the day about them (anarchy), rather than the cause of promoting and protecting the rights of our trans neighbors. And yes, I see that not every person arrested that day was an anarchist. Again: Cops wrong, protestors right.
A bunch of religious chuds are not denying anyone their rights. They are exercising their 1A rights.
Matt Shea and Russell Johnson absolutely knew antifa would take their bait.
Right wing media today is spiking the football on Seattle. Nice job, protesters. Winning the hearts and minds by force. What antifa is practiced and perfect at by now. And these idiots wonder why Trump won. Look in a mirror.
lol, okay Dave Reichart Fan Club Prez.
They didn’t show up for a Liberal cause – were there any votes happening on Saturday?
The people who show up in Bloc, goggles, gas masks and full face covering … are not there to peacefully protest. SPD did a good job of preventing another CHAZ from occurring.
Just a note…all the gear you mentioned protestors showing up in are defensive. The only people showing up with the intent to commit violence, and the only ones who do commit violence, are the police. What protestor who has seen SPD conduct their “duties” wouldn’t at least think about grabbing identity protection, eye protection, and respiratory protection at a minimum? Acting like safety measures taken are indicative of ‘criminal intent’ or whatever you’re imagining is completely silly. Just marry the police already if you love them so much!
And speaking of silly, thinking “another CHAZ” could just pop up at any time, and not considering the (hopefully) once-in-a-lifetime pandemic that facilitated the conditions that gave rise to it is a real trip. I’m not sure if the string on your pearls will hold much longer if you are squeezing that hard. But your previous comments show a similar dissociation from reality (antifa caused trump to win?! are you high??) So I guess all I can say is turn off your TV for a bit and go walk around Capitol Hill…it’s beautiful out and I did it yesterday and had fun.
Dude only comes around these days to lay blame on anyone to the left of Dave Reichert for causing people to the right of Dave Reichert. It drips in every post that everyone but himself betrayed Liberalism, never guessing that he’s exactly why people don’t turn out – anything he wants seems like some microwaved Reagan shit that Democrats have taken up to claim as theirs now.
Also, like you said, this guy is fearful of an event he doesn’t even get and only observed from blocks away, on TV and the web.
I agree. Another CHAZ unlikely but you really think those showing up in black bloc are simply protecting themselves? They come ready to rumble. Naive much? And yes as always the pearls but you forgot the Karen.
Great reporting on this!
Second that!
The best thing the trans community protestors could’ve done in this situation was not show up. Don’t give them what they want, which is attention to their cause, and leave them to spread their misguided gospel of intolerance.
Amendment 1 of the constitution states:
“ Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”
In other words, congress allows freedom of speech, but also allows the right for people to PEACEABLY assemble.
The religious zealots putting on the show in the park knew exactly what they were doing and why they were holding this event in that particular park, with the full intention of antagonizing the “marginalized” community (which is not a marginalized community when every other woman on the street is a trans man), and the trans community fully took the bait and reacted unlawfully.
Freedom of speech is a right enshrined in the constitution, and the organizers putting on the rally had already submitted all the proper paperwork necessary to hold the event. The trans community reacted with emotion and violence. As a result, the most extreme of the protestors got detained.
Be smarter, have a more plan, protest nonviolently, and accept that not everyone agrees with your viewpoint. Don’t be like the other side that you condemn.
If you don’t like what I have to say, cancel me. That’s the only tool trans people have against anyone who disagree with them.