What did george will say? I was actually planning to watch that this week - although the schedule said that they were just going to keep talking about George Bush jr. I always get the distinct impression that that guy never goes outside. He probably has an electric garage door opener, pulls out in his car, goes to his office, gets food delivered, goes to lengths to refrain from talking with anyone sitting next to him at the theater or in First-class even. I don't know what else could explain it.
This is a long post - below I posted two people's stories end to end. The first is from a suburban punk-rocker non-college student who is probably about 19. The other is a Seattle resident.
> >massive numbers
> >of young people protesting capitalism in the streets. Sure their
> >critique may be inchoate and untheorized, but isn't this something
> >those of us approaching geezerhood have been waiting for?
> >Doug
>(An ancillary pleasure of the Battle of Seattle has been the chance to
>witness pundits become unintelligeably apoplectic - whether Thomas Friedman
>in his NYT column or George Will on Sunday morning TV - when confronted by
>the fact that young people haven't succumbed to depoliticization anywhere
>near to the extent previously thought.)
>
>Peter K.
>
>
>
Personal View
by dj
Seattle, Tuesday, 11/30/1999 -- Ok, here goes: This is my
Seattle WTO protest story:
I wake up on Tue. morning and flip on the news. Shit, it's about 11:00am and there's already a lot going on. So i call up my friend Matt, throw on
some clothes, throw down some breakfast and head out the door. I pick him up and we drive down to the Kirkland Transit Center(bus station).
The 255 comes and we jump on it.
There's a couple people on it we know going down there too.
When we first arrive there isn't too much going on. The police have most of Union St. blocked off and protestors are at every police line. They are doing some weak chanting, but nothing major. I do see a lot of spray paint
already, and realzie that the cops can't do anything about it because they
have to maintain their lines. So we wonder around somemore and end up
by an intersection with a bus blocking it(some kind of police strategy).
There are people letting the air out of the front tires, right in front of a
police line, so i proceed to the back to let the air out of those tires. The
valves on these are much harder to reach, but eventually we get em. Then
Matt and I leave for a while, looking for some spray paint (i know i'm
such a rebel). I want to add my own anti WTO mark to Seattle. We look
everywhere but can't find any stores selling spray paint.
When we get back things are just starting to really pick up.
There are a lot of people marching to a particular police line that's
blocking Union St. So Matt and I go up to see the action. There are a
bunch of people chanting at the police. So i decide to make my way to the
front, and i end up getting right on the front line, right in front of the cops.
Matt is a little smarter and stays back a few rows, but you know im tough,
i can take it if something goes down. Anyway the crowd starts to pick up
and more and more cops show up to maintain the line.
Some guy starts kind of pushing me on the back into the cops and then this big ass
cop(remember i'm 6'3") jabbs me in the gut with his ogre club. A few minutes later the front of
the line to the right of me starts to move forward and the cops get pretty brutal with their clubs,
pushing people back. Things remain calm for a while, but with a huge underlying tension.
Let me digress for a min. to tell you how the cops are set up. The front line of the is in full riot
gear(i.e. helmet w/ face mask, gas mask, padded bullet proof vest, arm pads, padded gloves,
shin guards, knee pads, groin guard etc...). They each have a big ass club, pepper spray on their
right leg, zip cuffs on their left leg, and some have knifes on their left breast. On top of this i'm
sure they each have a hand gun in their riot suits somewhere. Next, behind the front row is a line
with similar gear. These guys are there to back them up and spray the crowd etc... Behind them
are 2 guys with M-16's (yes the big ass machine guns) poised and ready to fire. These guys were
especially scary. Along side these 2 are another couple with shot guns in a similar fasion. Then
there's a couple with tear gas guns. The rest are just random cops and sargents standing by.
Ok, back to the action: One of the cops gets on the bull horn and asks everyone to move back a
couple of feet. Of course no one does, and we start chanting at him. There's no point
what-so-ever to us moving back a couple of feet.
I believe it is just a tactic so they can use force, because we are "being disobidient". A few
minutes later the right side starts moving forward again(just walking) and all hell breaks loose.
The cops start flailing their clubs into the protestors.
And a second later i'm on the ground holding my face. I've been pepper sprayed full-on, right in
my eyes and all over my face. I didn't have time to put my hand up or anything. So i'm on my
knees with my back to the cops, blind. Holding out my hand and screaming out for someone to
help me. I have no idea what's going on at this point, all i can here are shots. The cops are
shooting tear gas at us, throwing flash grenades and shooting rubber bullets (some of which i
have). Someone came and helped me out of there, I thought i was going blind.
I make it back to a relatively safe distance and this guy gets me someones water bottle which he
dumps in my eyes. Then someone else gives me a bottle which i empty on my eyes and face in a
couple minutes. Someone starts putting this ointment on my face, i have no idea what it is, i still
can't see at this point and my eyes and face burn like nothing else. Eventually i can kind of see out
of my right eye, and the guy i am with leaves me.
For the next hour i wonder around, kind of in a daze, with my eyes and face burning very badly.
Everyone seems to be looking at me strange and people keep asking me if i need any help or if i
am ok. I always say i'm fine, i don't know what they can do for me.
I just have to wait through 40 min. of intense burning. No problem. Occasionally i ask for some
water and dump it on my face. I guess maybe i'm looking for Matt, i don't know. I would find
him later and he would tell me how he saw me getting sprayed in the face and turning around
holding my eyes. Of course he took off running, but he still got his fair share of tear gas. I do a
couple of half dazed interviews for some camera crew and some woman with a DAT recorder.
Some lady also takes pics of me.
I guess i look kind of messed up, i don't know, i can't find a mirror. It takes about half an hour
until i can see out of both eyes. I come accross a drinking fountain and fill up my bottle again. I
must've dumped at least 4 bottles of water on my face already. I look down at my clothes and
they are completely soaked.
I finally find Matt after about an hour. We are back at the original site only the protestors have
moved back a block and over-turned a garbage bin. There is a roaring bonfire inside it. A lot of
tear gas has been fired, but things are calm for now.
Through out the rest of the afternoon, we wondered around downtown to different protest areas.
I see many windows smashed with newspaper stands. These are all huge departement store
windows. There are people spray painting all over the place. and crews quickly boarding up
store windows. Over turned garbage bins and newspaper stands are all over the streets.
It's getting dark now and the crowds are becoming restless again...
There are a lot of people on the street who aren't protesting, but are out to vandalize. A group of
taggers starts spray painting like crazy down by the Levis store. Some of the protestors don't
agree with this and confront them. One of the protestors tries to grab a spray can and gets
sprayed in the face.
Then a group of anarchist type protestors smashes the Levis store's front window. A group of the
vandels starts to try and get in the store but the protestors form a line of linked arms to stop
them. They get violent and start pushing the protestors. A minute later, i turn around and see one
of the vandels punching a protestor. Me and a group of other people run over to break it up.
There is more tension between these two groups, but it dies down eventually.
Just in time for the march of the pigs...
The cops start firing tear gas and flash grenades into the crowd, and everyone starts to run. Then
the cops march down the street to the next corner, wait a while and then repeat. It seems that by
this time they are trying to clear everyone out of downtown. This continues from all directions
with tons of tear gas fired and people running. Finally most people disperse, and there is a small
group of us left. We had been forced down many blocks to the Starbucks and that little red brick
'park'. More tear gas. A couple of guys pick up a news stand and smash the window of Gateway
computer.
More tear gas.
People with gas masks start picking up the tear gas and throwing it back. Then a garbage truck
comes down the street and into the intersection. Everyone gets in front of it, to try and stop it
there. Then they put a garbage bin and some news stands in front and behind it and let the air out
of the tires. The truck is now stopped in the intersection with the poor driver just sitting inside.
The next thing i know a couple of guys are picking up a news stand and walking across the street
with it. They bring it all the way to Starbucks and heave it through the giant window. Then
someone starts shaking the front doors and they come open. A couple other people run inside
and throw coffee and tins of candy out into the streets. I wouldn't consider this real looting,
people were taking candy, but nothing valuable like the register was stolen.
Next we headed down the street, it looked like the cops were going to march soon and we
wanted to get out of there before they did. It was really coming down to it, with only a few
people left and a shit load of cops. So we make it around the block and see the po's starting to
march on the crowd from all directions.
Then right in front of me a fight breaks out. No wait it's not a fight, it's really 2 undercover FBI
agents arresting this punker kid. They drag him away and i watch in awe, how much more crazy
shit can i see in one day.
Then it dawns on me to make sure these guys are doing a ligit arrest. So i follow them, and one
of the guys in back turns around to us (there were 2 other people trying to see why they were
taking him). And says "GET BACK". and i say "can i just see your badge". and he holds up his
pepper spray can to my face and says "GET BACK" and i say "i just want to see your badge" he
says it againg "GET BACK" and made like he was going to spray me. i backed off and turned
around. Fuck, i almost got sprayed in the face again. I wonder whats gonna happen to that kid.
It was time to get out of here, this has been to crazy. So we head up to Cap. Hill. Get some
Pizza. And sit down for the first time all day. God, i didn't realize how tired i was, and that i'd
been standing all day. This day was too fucked up and to surreal to be real. I can't believe it.
Then we head down to the bus stop. Catch the 43 down to Mountlake. Hop on the 255.
Matt gets off at his stop to go home and I get off at mine.
*What a fucking day.*
So you want more? After a good nights sleep and managing to stay away from downtown all
day. We head up to Broadway that night.
The next night...
Ok, Basically we get up to Broadway not expecting many cops and find that the whole street is
blocked off. There are no protestors, just citizens trying to go down Broadway for whatever
reason, some of them just trying to get home. People are yelling at police saying they just want to
go home and that it's their neighborhood. Then this car drives down the street like it wants to go
through the police line and down Broadway. It stops across the intersection from the cops and
the driver puts his hand down on his horn and leaves it there for about 5 minutes. He finally drives
off.
After that a group of about 6 cops gather by the right side of the line and proceed to run accross
the street at the public standing on the corner. Many people started running away, i know i
would've, being pepper sprayed once is enough but i was on the other side of the street. They
caught a few people and put the zip cuffs on them. Then dragged and shoved them back across
the police line. I guess they were being arrested for breathing or something. Seriously, I think
because some people were standing in the street (not blocking traffic at all) that this justified them
being arrested and dragged away.
Then another huge line of police that was at the other end of broadway starts marching down our
way. As they are marching a random canister of tear gas is fired high in the air and lands in the
street by some of the citizens.
Once the 2 groups are together, they start marching forward down Broadway, claiming more
sidewalk and tear gasing people all the way.
Remeber that these people weren't doing anything wrong. There weren't even very many people
there. Basically this continued all the way down to the corner by Jack in the Box.
I saw things were getting too fucked and split down to the church, then headed into the alley by
the park. Coming down the alley from both directions were lines of cops. This was fucking crazy
they were coming out of everywhere. I took off running after this, and seriously feared for my
safety, I know if I had come anywhere close to them that they would've sprayed, gassed, or shot
me(rubber bullets). Right after i got through the park they started coming through there. I got in
my car, parked on the other side and took off.
Every intersection I passed had been blocked off, i didn't think i would even be able to get home.
Gotta love this WTO shit. innocent bystander arrested at pike place market
by sharon borgstrom 8:21pm Sat Dec 4 '99
this is my story as an innocent
bystander arrested at pike place
and the 32 hours i spent
incarcerated at a downtown
precinct;sand point; and the king
county jail.
i came over to seattle wed. afternoon hoping to gather some information on the wto. i wanted to talk to people about some of the issues and i really wanted to see the damage that had been done knowing that in a few days it
would all be cleaned up and business would go on as usual.
i had a great day walking around the city talking to people about all kinds of issues iwas hoping to find some protesters but none were to be found iwalked up to capitol hill i must say i was shocked at the troops of police officers blocking access to certain areas. i was really blown away
when the police were marching in formation and cadence it
reminded me of the facism of nazi germany this is not the
seattle that that i know and love. I ended up on capital hill
and still did not see any protesters all seemed normal to
me. I realized that I had better start heading back to the ferry
landing because I wanted to get out of Seattle before it got
dark. I ended up at the pike Place market where I finally
found some peaceful protesters sitting at the entrance by
the bronze pig. I listened to the songs they were singing and
was impressed with their youth and passion.They were
suddenly concerned about the safety of the merchants and
the shoppers inside the market if the police decided to tear
gas them and so they stood up and walked away. I walked
towards the ferry. I got as far as the corner of Pike and 1st
avenue. The police had lined up with their horses and their
tear gas and their sound machine which duplicates the
sound of what i imagine a nuclear explosion would sound
like. They began throwing tear gas at these peaceful
protesters that I had encountered earlier. They had linked
arms and were singing.The sound effects the tear gas the
chaos I was so confused I crossed the street into a
forbidden zone I knew nothing about. I asked some officers what they thought they were doing and it was then that I was assaulted by four or five police officers with sticks pushing me towards a wall.My instincts took over. I was being attacked after all for no reason.I pushed back. I was hit on the back of my head with a stick. I was handcuffed and
taken one block to a squad car. I was yelling the whole way.
I wanted to be known that I was an innocent bystander. I was not passive. I am not a trained protester. I had not planned
to get arrested. I was on my way home. I was taken to a
police precinct somewhere in downtown Seattle and my
wallet, car keys and ferry schedule were taken from my
pockets. I was put into a holding cell for an hour. They then
roughly put me into the back of a van. I was cuffed this
whole time. This one one wild ride. I wasn't buckled up and
since my hands were cuffed behind my back I was unable to
steady myself. I was taken to Sandpoint. I was now
wondering what I was being charged with no one had read
me any rights. The police officer at the downtown station
asked me for a physical description of my arresting officer. I
didn't know they all look the same to me. At Sandpoint I saw
alot of insane things. A young woman who had a broken
nose split lip recieving no medical attention. The police
asked me all the usual questions. I was cooperative.
Eventually I was put on a bus with some other women. After
a while we were driven to the King county courthouse. We
were processed and put into a holding tank with some
others. There were telephones. At sandpoint we were told
that the phones were broken. People were calling their
defense team.We were told that since marshall law had
been declared we had no rights to an attorney.There were
women that had been taken into custody at 7 o clock in the
moning and it was now around mid-night. They had not
eaten . We were not fed until 7 the next morning. Most of the
women were denied food for 24 hours. There was a woman
with us who was ill and denied medical attention. What
makes me really mad today is reading in the P.I. today
statements saying that we were not denied food and
medical attention. Blatant lies.
So many lies and I am so tired. I am sick of telling my story. I want my life back. I am a victim of vilence and am suffering tonight frm delayed stress. I am trying to stick to this story
but I am getting really burnt out. There were so many
incidents of abuse which I witnessed first hand inside the
walls of King County Jail, at sandpoint, at that obscure
police station where I was first held. I could go on and on. I
was an innocent bystander....
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