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Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1999
We were just down at the standoff on Capitol Hill. I don't know if you knew there was a standoff, but the cops just gassed and shot the fuck out of my neighbors (and me). I don't know too many details about how this will play in tomorrow's news. From what I saw approximately 1,000 people stood on Pine Street and prevented the cops from enforcing their own curfew border over most of Capitol Hill.
In front of the Man Ray (a block from the Hi*Score) a phalanx of officers dressed in black riot gear stood in line with an amoured vehicle against a gang of people shouting "This is our hill! Go Home!"
On the corner of Broadway and Pine, protesters built an impromtu barricade of dumpsters and recycle bins laced together. Protesters burned bumpsters in the corner between Broadway and Pine. The major press vans left the area. Teams of four or more officers closed off all side streets along Pine. Larger police units prepared behind the front lines. The Police seperated the two groups of protesters during a reported bomb scare at the parking garage behind Seattle Central Community College. Shortly after a bright explosion from the far corner of the garage, police began firing rubber bullets into the crowd near Broadway. A strong rain and stronger Northbound wind kept most of the tear gas low. Police cars raced in formation down Pine. Protesters threw bottles into a car that lagged behind the corps. Then the police marched in. They took all four cross streets between fronts in force. Most of the crowd dispearsed. I stayed to take pictures. A CS gas canister landed at my feet. The police fired rubber bullets toward us. My eyes began watering and my mouth burned. We left.
Two hours later, I'm listening to the police radio band. There are still several dumpster fires burning. The dispatcher sounds exhausted. The cops are somewhat sarcastic, as to be expected at the end of a long, long day. To those of you interested, CS gas starts to feel pretty good after a couple hours and a lot of spitting.
WTO protest in Seattle/ account of days events by Dominique
Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1999
Pardon ahead of time for the rough nature of this document. I have just returned from a day at the WTO protest. I am tired. Up at 5:45 to take a bus to Capitol Hill where i met up with a group. Some speeching & then procession down different streets, i was loosely hanging with the anarchists. Hung about at Pike & Boren for quite some time while people formed a chain across the street. The police (hereafter "cops") came up the street in full riot gear & stopped opposite the chain. I was tense, the mood was tense and festive, it was cold & wet. Some delegates came to the line & were not allowed to pass. Press was everywhere. I was scared, after a bit things mellowed, the cops put down the shields. I started to roam a bit, making sure other people were around me. I came across freeway park walked a bit in downtown, there were people everywhere & a weird area where the cops looked caged in, & areas where i was told in to uncertain terms to keep walking. There were masses of people on the street i could see, & places where they had blocked the street with newspaper racks or dumpsters. Things were kinda weird & i felt alone so i headed back up the hill. I came upon another chain blocking a road to an entrance for workers & stuff to the convention center at 7thish & Seneca. I ended up here for a bit, helped move the chain to another position & then moved it again. The cops here were edgy and low key. back up on the street people were calling for support at 8th & Seneca. When i arrived cops were poking people with sticks who had been sitting in front of them. I was scared & sat down next to a person who was being poked, i sat there for awhile while cops continued to threaten to clear the blockade & protesters admonished the cops for their actions. The person i was with moved on & i moved over to sit with the pair who were earlier being aggressively poked. They had also been sprayed with pepper spray, were shaking & beet red. After a bit i helped them up to move them because it appeared we had little support & the cops were going to beat us & move us out of the way. As we moved aside several rows of people came & sat renewing the block, i delivered the person to first aid & tried to calm myself. After a bit the huge "mother earth" (hereafter "mom") puppet & pyramid showed up & things began to relax. The pyramid needed a 4th person to help move it, & so i started traveling with the pyramid & mom. We went back to the pike chain where the cops were threatening to beat the line & some came through on Boren menacingly, then they turned & marched away, or piled into their van & drove off. The pine chain was okay, a short stop there & then on downtown to the paramount & hotel chains.
I began doing some outreach to protesters, thanking them for coming out & standing up. I was beginning to understand that mom had a calming effect, almost soothing, in part played by the clowns who would entertain the cops & chains. I felt safer with these folks who were diffusing situations that were taught & scary. The cops dissolved the bus blockade at the Paramount & on Pine, so people were streaming all over. We were there for awhile, mostly resting, labor was playing music from a semi truck. We headed up to the Pike blockade which a slow, a skeleton crew of cops & plenty of people so we head out to 8th & Seneca again. Things were pretty cool there, i got some food & after a bit the cops were relaxed & smiling. Word came up that there was big action downtown with rubber bullets & gas. We headed down University & the gas was mild & irritating. I was kinda freaked We ended up going down a street where mounted cops were threatening people & a number of people had been pepper sprayed. The mood was tense & bad. mom got to the chain & things started to calm a bit.
i broke down & started crying, it had nearly happened a number of times, and here I lost it for a bit. Some people came & gave me water & hugs & the episode subsided. I started helping some people who had been sprayed with pepper. i ended up with someone for a long time, squirting water in their eyes, trying to clean their face, holding them & asking them to breathe. Finally they were able to stand again, the cops on horses had left, the overall mood was pretty chill & more support came down the street, so we split to 4th & University where things were winding down.
I heard a story of three people bring arrested. Someone who punched a protester in the head in front of the cops, & a couple people smoking a joint in front of the cops. The sky was dusky & i split for 3rd which i walked down to Jackson as the protest in the intersection broke up. They were calling for similar action tomorrow at 7am at 4th & Pike. (or Pine) On the walk i spoke with a couple of people who indicated downtown had been crazy all day, some busses had their tires slashed & McDonalds had their windows busted. Then i began speaking with a "delegate" i had seen earlier who turned out to be a person who wanted to speak to the Philipines delegate, & was, i felt against the WTO. We apparently has some political affiliation, we spoke quite awhile, & it was rewarding to hear he was concerned with his country being run over by big corporations.
While waiting for the bus at Jackson I spoke with some people. One felt that things got out of control when the "adults" left & the "kids" were on their own. I felt that being empowered for the first time they probably had a lot of aggression to act out. This person felt that they needed to "learn the rules" when they were 5. I related my stories where i had seen only the police escalate & use violence (& one person pissed at protesters for not letting him pass.) I felt that for the tens of thousands of people who had come out, I saw little violence, the people acted non-violently & the cops showed (mostly) restraint.
Someone else arrived & said the cops had just gassed about 4 blocks & the "kids" went running everywhere, some of them busting a lot of windows. I wish the cops had officers dressed regular & unarmed at interfaces between the protesters & the riot gear cops to express concerns of safety & the cops that needed to be addressed & to negotiate with the protesters. We are all, really, on the same side, for the most part. I hope this finds you all, in good health.