Wednesday, April 5, 2000
May Day street protest planned
JOEL COFFIDIS, THE OLYMPIAN
OLYMPIA -- Activists are planning to block roads May 1 for a giant "street party" to protest corporate globalization, and police and downtown business owners are taking steps to avoid problems.
"Our main concern would be: Let's just make sure no harm comes to anybody or any property," said Connie Lorenz, coordinator for the Olympia Downtown Association, a business group.
A group calling itself the May Day Action Committee is planning the street demonstration, which will occur May 1 at a yet-to-be-determined location. The event will cap off a week of workshops, films and lectures focusing attention on the harm caused by the global economy, organizers said.
Steve Hughes, a May Day committee member, said the street protest is a perfect opportunity for different groups to speak out against corporate globalization. The goal is to create a peaceful, educational and fun event where people can freely express their viewpoints, Hughes said.
The street party idea originates from a movement in England and is intended to reclaim space and free it from money, work and consumerism, organizers said. The plan is to fill the streets with music, art, theater and other events.
"I'm afraid people are going to see this as a scary thing happening in the community," said Hughes, a student at The Evergreen State College and graduate of Capital High School.
That shouldn't be the case, Hughes said. Instead, Hughes said he expects the event will be similar to a street protest last June, where he said people peacefully gathered on Fourth Avenue and played music and danced. More than 200 people attended last June's protest, police said at the time.
Nonetheless, Olympia police are preparing for this year's event.
Police hope the protest will be peaceful like past protests in the city, said Dick Machlan, technical services manager for the Olympia Police Department.
But just in case, the department is making sure officers are up-to-date on crowd-control training, Machlan said.
"They (officers) will have their skills updated by the time this goes on," he said.
The training is part of the regular training officers receive, not special training, Machlan said.
Officers will have their standard equipment available, such as guns and pepper spray, Machlan said. They also will have protective equipment available, which includes helmets with face shields and body shields, Machlan said.
But no special equipment will be bought for the event, Machlan said.
Asked if protesters will face arrest for blocking public streets, Machlan said each situation needs to be assessed separately.
However, if the crowd is peaceful, police usually are "fairly tolerant" about letting them gather, Machlan said.
Machlan said the police will continue talking with protest organizers and downtown business owners to address concerns. Police are monitoring the protesters' Web site for information, he added.
Eric Chase said he's participating in the demonstration to honor International Workers' Day. May 1 has been recognized as workers' day since the 1880s, when a general strike led to the eight-hour work day in the United States, although the holiday is not recognized in the United States.
Chase has heard that police believe that anarchists from Eugene, Ore., might show up in Olympia on May 1. Chase scoffed at those rumors, noting that Eugene has its own May Day events planned.
Machlan said police have not heard about Eugene anarchists coming to Olympia. The anarchists were blamed for much of the property damage at the recent World Trade Organization protests in Seattle.
Chase said he doesn't think the protest will have a negative impact on downtown Olympia. He said last June's protest was peaceful and that the only person he knows of who was upset was the owner of the Spar CafÈ.
Spar owner Alan McWain, said Tuesday he lost about $800 during the two-hour protest last June.
"My only issue is closing the streets," he said. "We have parks (where) these things can take place in.
"I think they have to have some boundaries, just like we business people do," McWain said.
Lorenz said her group's members will meet this week to talk about their concerns, which will be relayed to the police and City Council.
One of the most frustrating things is that so little is known about what's being planned, Lorenz said.
Organizers said the element of surprise is important.
For example, protesters will meet at 12:34 p.m. May 1 at the Value Village store parking lot on the city's west side. They will then march into the street toward "the secret pre-determined destination," according to the group's literature.
A Value Village spokeswoman, Katrina Price, said Tuesday that the group will be allowed to gather at the parking lot, but she made it clear that Value Village is not associated with the demonstration. Price said the company did not know about the protest until The Olympian called her.
Lorenz said business owners might cut back staffing during the afternoon of May 1 if certain areas are forced to close.
If downtown streets are closed, small, independent businesses will be hurt, said David Schaffert, executive director of the Olympia Thurston County Chamber of Commerce.
"A lot of those businesses are small downtown," he said. "One- to four-hour losses could be their profit margin for the whole month."
Joel Coffidis covers business for The Olympian. He can be reached at 754-5447.
To learn more For more information about the planned May Day protest, call the May Day Action Committee at 236-8859 or visit http://www.mayday2k.org/oly.