seattle indymedia center

ok, first read what was written by Komo 4 about the events [there is also a video you might want to watch too. its on the url below]:
http://www.komotv.com/news/9239366.html

"Anti-immigration group hit with bottles, balloons" (yes, that's right- it says balloons..)

SEATTLE -- What were supposed to be two separate protests by two opposing groups turned violent when the one group grew confrontational and threw balloons and beer bottles at its opposition on Saturday.

Some 200 people gathered to protest against what they claim is President Bush's support of a North American union which, the protesters claim, would eliminate U.S. sovereignty.

"Not every illegal immigrant is a criminal - we understand that, but we are allowing people into this nation who are doing us harm," said Jonnie Crivello, a protester.

The protesters gathered at the Seattle Center and marched down Third Avenue to the Federal Building. While rallied there, they were bombed with beer cans and balloons by counter-protesters who were holding their own rally, prompting police to intervene.
About 50 counter-protesters were present, claiming shutting down the border is a racist act.
"We say no human being is illegal and everybody - just by working here - automatically has the right to live here," said Jorge Torres, a counter-protester.
Police said many of their officers were hurt during the protests. No arrests were made.

-------------------

now for what REALLY happened, as told by someone (Zak :P) who was actually there. Chronological of course:

everyone started the day off by meeting at the base of the spaceneedle. There were two groups: the minuteman/anti-immigration protesters and the opposing force [us], the pro-immigration/anti-racism group. Over the course of a half hour both sides grew, with the police protecting the vigilante racists.


around 1:00-ish the mintemen starting moving out in their march to the federal building and we followed them. This resulted in both groups taking up the sidewalks on each side of the street, and we were able to tag along behind the Minutemen until we reached the more central part of downtown and tried to cross the street. When crossing was attempted, 2 or 3 officers used their bikes to barracade our crossing. We were never told why we couldn't cross, and when one man took it upon himself to do so, he was grabbed and pulled backwards (this was while other non-protestors [shoppers] we allowed to cross the street many times in front of us). we were never allowed to cross so we instead turned and went through westlake center.



while leaving westake center and heading towards the federal building an anarchist bloc carrying big banners of solidarity strung upon protective shields joined us. In the picture below the cops are simply telling the bloc to get out of the street and onto the sidewalk. please note that there was NO DRINKING OF ANY ALCOHOL at this time (or ever).


with both groups unified (protestors and bloc) we caught up to the already-congregated Minutemen at the Federal building. We positioned our protest on the other side of the street. At this time there were only a couple cops (from what i could see) standing in front of us and in the street. Some people had discussions with the cops but there was never an official statement issued to us to stay on the side of the street we were on.


about 10-15 minutes later I noticed that the Bloc folks were carrying buckets full of water balloons the size of oranges filled with nothing but water. These were eventually hurled by the bloc AT THE MINUTEMEN and NOT THE POLICE. It is important to note that of the balloons that were thrown, only a couple reached the anti-immigrant crowd: the rest either exploded above us pro-immigrant rights protesters or landed in the streets. Maybe ONE balloon exploded above an officer (NOT ON). People laughed and were entertained; the cops did nothing but walk around-- NO attempt to arrest anyone was made. it is also important to note that THERE WERE NO BOTTLES OF ANY KIND THROWN WHATSOEVER. NONE. I saw everything that happened and there was nothing but squishy balloons.

a little while after that, the Bloc folks grouped together and attempted to cross the street, allegedly into the Minutemen crowds while taking cover behind their shields. At this point, the cops swarmed them and started to physically push the the bloc back with shoves. The shoves became kicks and scuffle-like punches, ending with officers spraying the bloc with pepper spray whiel forcing them back into the anti-minuteman protester crowds. Again, no beer bottles were thrown at this time and no one but the police tried to fight. Once back on the sidewalk, the bloc folks (as well as other non-bloc protester) were sprayed again- no one was resisting arrest because no arrests were made then.





also keep in mind that these spraying incidents were only a fraction of what happened that day; as far as the whole protest goes they took up maybe 15 minutes of the whole thing. There was no riot. period.
A lot of pepper-spray burns were treated afterwards, and the shouting/chanting continued. By now there were tons of cops standing in front of our crowd. About 20 minutes later the bloc people who were sprayed exited the scene, taking a left and walking up the hill. As they left, the entire fucking squadron of cops followed them up the hill (and behind). My friends and I followed, as well as a couple of Legal observers (witnessess).



when we made it to the top of the hill (and far away from the protest), I heard an officer shout "STOP, POLICE: YOU ARE UNDER ARREST" as they all jumped off of their bikes and into the exiting bloc. From there, they broke the bloc up, arrested one of its members, rolled up the anarchist flag and took the shields (which were eventually loaded into a police van along with the arrested bloc member). I was trying to avoid getting arrested (or shot with pepper spray) myself, so I was only able to get this shot of the end of the breakup/quarrel:


and this shot of the young guy who arrested illegally (there were no reasons given, no rights read-- nothing of the sort):


while the arrestee was laying on the ground and then being loaded into the van, the officers made a human wall (of sorts) and "dared" us to come closer, using taunts and provocations while we asked them questions about the arrest.

remember: Komo 4 reported that "no arrests were made". They also said that police officers were hurt.... but how is that possible when noone but the officers fought? Not a single protester attempted to start a fight. On top of that, I never saw any officers who appeared to have any injury of any kind. Did any of the cops on those bikes look injured? I dont think so.

in the end I was very surprised at how this war portrayed on the news: I knew it would be skewed but had no idea it'd end up being reported in the way it was. Even the article in the newspaper failed to report on the arrest that was made.
The other thing that surprised me was how provacative the officers were- I've always been used to cops at protests staying impartial and not answering anyones' questions, jeers or whatever else- this time they were the ones talking the shit. (but Maybe I just need to get out more?). It was clear, however, that they were indeed protecting the racist minutemen, and permit or not, that's still fucked.

ok, things have been set (somewhat) straight now. All I'm trying to say is... dont pay attention to what cuntass [tachomie's note: i didn't write this, but am forwarding the message. i want to note that i object to this deragatory use of the word for a female body part] Komo 4 and all those other jokers wrote :P. Ask people who were there :)

PS: I'll repost this again later.. just in case..

Thanks to Zak for the pictures and for putting in writing the real happenings ^_^

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Minutemen Rally in Seattle: What really happened author: tachomie Aug 20, 2007 15:01 This message was posted elsewhere and I wanted to forward it to Indymedia. The report has an accurate description of what happened, and there are some great pictures. Minutemen Rally in Seattle: What really happened