On the morning of Tuesday, Nov. 30, I joined other protesters in creating a human chain around the Trade and Convention Center in order to prevent delegates from convening for their first day of meetings. During this action, I witnessed cops in full riot gear attacking entirely peaceful protesters sitting with linked arms. They ripped protective covering (their bandannas and hands) away from the faces of the protesters and pepper sprayed directly into their eyes, noses and mouths. They beat them with large riot sticks, picked them up and violently threw them onto the cement. At least one person suffered broken ribs.
Not only was this excessive and horrific, it was completely without rationale. This was a secure emergency entrance and no one, not even of the delegates, was permitted to enter there. So, the police here carried out violence against protesters who weren't even preventing the delegates from meeting.
All over the city, police used pepper spray, concussion grenades, rubber pellets and bullets, clubs, and, what some doctors now suspect was nerve gas, to attack peaceful protesters, often without warning.
In addition, police fired cannisters of tear gas into crowds of people drumming, dancing, and sitting silently. Around 4:30 the police began to increase the use of the tear gas, virtually bombing the entire downtown area.
In a matter of an hour, I heard at least 20 explosions. Making our way home, we were turned around continuously because the gas seemed to be coming from every direction. I couldn't shake the image of rats being exterminated from a building as we fled downtown.
The media focused on virtually nothing beyond the minimal property damage that had occurred. I saw the same damn clip of Starbucks being looted 20 times. The reason is, I think, that was pretty much the only place that was looted.
Yes, there was a fairly significant amount of graffiti in the downtown area and some broken windows, but I personally did not see a single protester acting violently to property or to people. I have heard that about 30 people vandalized property while 50 other protesters chased after them pleading with them to stop.
Many protesters returned the next day to help clean up downtown. Meanwhile, the police did not react to those who caused damage. It has been reported that the police were given specific orders not to arrest those causing property damage, which some suggest was so that the destruction could be used as justification for widespread violence against innocent protesters.
On Wednesday, Dec. 1, Seattle became a militarized state with a complete suspension of our first amendment rights in the form of a very large "no protest zone."
Although there was absolutely no property damage Wednesday, the police brutality escalated. They gassed crowds gathered outside of the zone, pepper sprayed a woman inside her car, confiscated anti-WTO signs and buttons, declared gas masks illegal for civilians, and targeted violence to people with media and first aid skills.
By Wednesday night, what can only be termed a police riot was occurring. Police entered my residential neighborhood, Capitol Hill, gassing and attacking protesters and neighborhood residents alike until 2 a.m.
As two of my friends left our apartment, an armored personnel carrier drove down our street. When one of them yelled, "go home", an officer aimed and shot a tear gas canister directly at them from close range, barely missing them.
As time distances us from these events, the reality of Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 becomes more and more lost in condensed and skewed summaries.
One Seattle TV station stated: "Police and rioters faced off Wednesday night on Capitol Hill." I'm not sure of the official definition of a riot, but I suspect that the handful of people armed with spray paint and the other 50,000 peacefully protesting on Tuesday do not qualify as rioters.
I am absolutely certain, though, that the Capitol Hill residents walking their dogs, doing their grocery shopping, and driving their cars on Wednesday night who "faced off" with the police definitely do not fit the bill.
As a Seattle resident who participated in last week's protests, I feel compelled to dispel a myth that I have found consistently perpetuated by the Seattle police force and the mainstream media.
Many newspapers relay the events of the World Trade Organzation protests in the following way: Protests became violent; police were forced to react with violence. The idea implied here, that the protesters were the instigators of the violence, is completely false. I am writing this in the hopes that my experiences here in Seattle will illuminate what really happened.
Copyright © 1999, The Oberlin Review.
Volume 128, Number 12, December 10, 1999
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