Fw: eyewitness account of Seattle

Here is another account of what went on in Seattle by an activist from UNC 
who
went to the WTO demonstrations, for anyone who is interested.
 
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Sat, 04 Dec 1999 02:58:03 PST
> From: Jennifer Clayton <oldskool11@hotmail.com>
> To: wto@listserv.oit.unc.edu
> Subject: I'm home!! Thank goodness for sweet smelling air & no curfew!!
> 
> Hello my anti-WTO cats who acted in Chapel Hill in Solidarity with the 
> World, not just Seattle!!
> 
> I am so very glad to be home right now, even though when I left Seattle 
>had 
> come to a temporary truce with the protesters. The police riots have 
>pissed 
> off Seattle residents and they are now calling for the mayor and police 
> chief to resign. Protesters are still in jail, refusing to give their 
>names 
> and demanding all charges dropped for everyone arrested, this is jail 
> solidarity. Dave is sitting outside the jail right now w/ all the 
>protesters 
> not arrested, demanding the release of the prisoners, or an eternal 
>sit-in.
>   The mainstream media in Seattle sux, so I can only imagine the 
>distorted 
> view our lovely local channels gave. Some are saying that the local 
> officials are not entirely to blame, that police behavior was a federal, 
> FBI, kind of scheme to undermine the protesters, provoke them into 
>violence. 
> It is totally true. Tues. morning at 7:30am Direct Action Network set up 
> human roadblocks in order to deny delegates entrance to the convention 
> center, and IT WORKED!!! But, my friend Darby, from Raleigh, says that 
>cops 
> attacked the direct action kids almost immediately. They were in lock 
>boxes, 
> and unable to disperse when ordered, a canister of tear gas was dropped 
>in 
> his lap. This was early Tues. morning. From these acts of police 
>brutality 
> so early in the day, it is no wonder that kids began retaliating by 
>pushing 
> dumpsters into the streets to form barricades so the police could not 
>harm 
> more non-violent protesters.
> Media and police claim that crowd control by using tear gas, rubber 
>bullets, 
> concussion bombs, pepper spray, electric tasers, was necessary, that 
>there 
> needed to be twice as many officers as protesters to arrest anyone, even 
> those who caused the property damage. Police had specific orders NOT to 
> break their lines to arrest anyone, no matter if they failed to disperse, 
>or 
> if they bashed in the windows of Starbucks. There are differing opinions 
> about the said violent actions of the black block anarchists, but 
>violence 
> is used indiscriminatively to describe vandalism against corporations 
>that 
> represent the most horrendous perpurtrators of slave and sweatshop labor. 
> Other targets included niketown, Gap, banana republic, mcdonalds, bank of 
> america, us bank, ect. Many small businesses were broken into and looted, 
> and these crimes were perpetrated by gangs and youth from Seattle, I saw 
> them, and Dave saw these same Seattle kids beating up the anarchists. 
>Lots 
> of controversy here, yet I have still not disclosed the manner in which 
>the 
> police handled these actions. They did nothing!! Yet, the media and mayor 
> cite such violence (against property), vandalism, as the reason the 
>police 
> used brutal force to disperse the crowds.
> I personally was there and know for a fact that the police were not 
>trying 
> to disperse the crowd, there were too many people to disperse. The mayor 
>was 
> embarrassed the situation wasn't under control and the president was on 
>his 
> way. Authorities wanted to dampen the spirits of the protestors. Police 
> surrounded and blockaded groups of protesters, gassed and sprayed them, 
>not 
> giving them an escape route, not giving them a place to disperse to. As 
>you 
> ran away you would turn a corner to be gassed by another line of robo 
>cops. 
> Then they would chase you down the alley ways. I have read that they used 
> some tagging spray and that they would pursue those who had been sprayed, 
> like targets or something, just for peacefully protesting!!
> This is only Tues. until about 3pm. Most protesters ran away, me and Dave 
> both, then there were those who stood their ground. Most of these had gas 
> masks, but a lot were those who felt it was their duty to this country to 
> not give up the fight. I hate that it turned into a standoff with police, 
> but the police created the standoff. Instead of holding a line at an 
> intersection and then directing cars around, they actually let cars drive 
> into the protestors. Instead of protecting business, they created 
>blockades 
> around the protesters so protesters could not leave and disperse if they 
>so 
> chose. Robo cops created panic and pandemonium. They sprayed pepper spray 
>at 
> nonviolent protesters sitting down showing the peace sign. They herded 
>the 
> protesters that would not run down Broadway street into a residential 
> neighborhood. Their tactics at that point were to take half blocks at a 
> time, teargassing every 10 min with no warning.
> The mayor declared a state of emergency,instituted marshal law,which in 
> effect nullifies the constitution,declared 50 blocks of downtown a 'no 
> protest zone'and gave it a 7pm curfew. By the time curfew went into 
>effect 
> all of the protestors were outside the 'no protest zone', yet the police 
> still pushed on, claiming the curfew and no protest zone followed them 
> wherever they went. Now the residents were angry and they came into the 
> street also, they were treated the same. People going to and from work 
>were 
> affected, anyone who happened to be on the street, protestors or not, and 
>at 
> this point everyone was coming outside b/c they heard the concussion 
>bombs 
> and were being poisoned inside their homes and businesses from the tear 
>gas. 
> That was only Tues. night
> Everyone who was downtown that day when the robocops rioted said they 
>would 
> be back the next day, and they were. Dave and I slept in and avoided 
> downtown, we didn't like being gasses too much and even if we had bought 
> gasmasks, they were declared illegal, a felony possession charge, under 
> marshal law now in effect 24 hours and most likely still in effect. 
>Instead 
> we made quarter sheet flyers at kinkos, one side was the resolution the 
> philly city cancel passed against the wto and the other side was our take 
>on 
> what went down the day before. We took our flyers downtown to give to 
> shoppers and residents who were puzzled why protesters wanted to shut 
>down 
> the wto and what rights people had to be in their streets causing such a 
> disturbance.
> We heard teargas canisters exploding only blocks away, apparently the 
>kids 
> who had returned for another day of peaceful protesting had being running 
> through the maze of downtown from the cops since daybreak. They no longer 
> blocked intersections, the excuse for the brutal crowd dispersal methods 
> tues. was that crowds were blocking crucial intersections, now no one was 
> blocking anything, yet police violence continued. Dave and I went to the 
> united methodist church for a program that lasted until 10pm. we had our 
> filers for free passage out of the curfew zone, yet on our way home we 
>saw 
> no cops inside the zone. When we got to Broadway, the path to blissful 
> sleep, we entered the fascist police state war zone. No joke. Tues. night 
>we 
> had been curios and gone to Broadway to see what was up.  After being 
>gassed 
> too many times we scouted out the acton from the side streets. This 
>night, 
> Weds., we didn't want anything to do with it, we sincerely wanted to go 
> home, yet we couldn't. At the corner of Broadway and the street we had 
> walked up, to the left two blocks down was the line of robocops. we 
>luckily 
> were behind them as opposed to being in front of them and being targeted 
>as 
> a protester. We were hanging out on the corner conversing with residents 
>and 
> workers of Capitol Hill when a group of 20 kids comes running full speed 
> down the sidewalk. Now, initially I thought they had just smashed a 
>window 
> and were running from getting arrested, but Dave noticed we had just seen 
> the kids at the front walk by moments ago, residents we were sure. It is 
> hard not to get scared and join the mob in such a situation. I saw a 
>police 
> van driving down the street in pursuit of those running for their lives, 
>not 
> vandals, but residents,running from the passenger of the van who was 
>leaning 
> out the window spraying the entire sidewalk with pepperspray. I turned 
>away 
> and didn't get hurt, but I know Dave got sprayed :(
> All of this sux b/c the focus is no longer the wto. noone is thinking 
>about 
> what the delegates are debating anymore. The government succeeded in 
>turning 
> our peaceful protests into a standoff with police.
> Then with protesters in jailed still being detained, protesters are 
>focusing 
> on getting them out of jail and their treatment in jail instead of the 
>wto.
> We have to take the police violence and media misreporting and connect it 
>to 
> the wto, which isn't so hard. The media in Seattle is owned by sponsors 
>of 
> the wto. the secret service has been in seattle scouting it out for 
>months 
> now. a lot of those who were cajoling others to action were later seen 
>going 
> into crowds and arresting leaders of acton groups. We have to realize 
>that 
> when the protests turned from peaceful to chaotic, it was sabotage. 
> Protesters showed enormous restraint in the face of robocops who sprayed 
>you 
> point blank in the face. I am so proud of those who were brave enough to 
> hold their ground and who did not retaliate. The media, mayor, 
>bourgeoisie 
> citizens have siad they are proud that the police had such restraint. I 
>am 
> glad we were not in Philly or LA or NYC, yet b/c things were not worse 
> should not allow us to condone the atrocities of what fascist police 
> inflicted on an enite community, not just protestors.
> For those in WIN, many women had abortions induced by the teargas. They 
>made 
> an announcement Thurs. night that all women should be experiencing the 
>early 
> onsets of the menstrual cycles b/c of the gassing. This tells me that 
>there 
> were using such poisonous chemicals that it would cause birth defects in 
>the 
> unborn. I also learned the chemicals used against us causes permanent 
> genetic mutation. It can cause death for those with asthma.
> No medical teams were coming to our rescue. I called 911 several times at 
> the Broadway standoff Tues. and operators told me they would not under 
>any 
> circumstance send any of their people into that situation b/c they could 
>not 
> protect themselves from the gas. The Swedish hospital was blocked by 
>police 
> and no protestor was allowed entry. Direct Action medics were targeted by 
> police, they were sprayed while giving medical help, their gas masks were 
> stolen, they were not allowed to enter crowds being sprayed to help, 
>their 
> supply boxes were smashed, ect.
> Now all this yuck was on Tues and Weds. The action on Sat, Sun, Mon, 
>which 
> though blocked the streets didn't involve as many people were not 
>harassed 
> by police. On Thurs. there was a truce of sorts. We rallied at the 
>Community 
> college and marched down to a park at the Pike st. markets to meet up 
>with a 
> farmer march. The farm march was allowed inside the no protest zone and 
>our 
> march which was unannounced and had no permits was given a police escort 
>to 
> meet the other protest. From this huge group half when to a corporate 
>head 
> quarter to protest agribusiness and the other half surrounded the prison.
> They could not beat down our spirits. I had gone back to the community 
> college and they were as many people at the community college as were 
> downtown, many residents. We took to the side walks chanting "whose 
>streets? 
> our streets!!, Whose world? Our world!!" Very empowering considering we 
> still got to block traffic b/c there were so many of us we formed a 
> continuos loop from the college to the last intersection of Broadway b/f 
>it 
> turns into 10th. And when the kids at the prison negotiated to let 
>lawyers 
> in to represent those charged, those who wanted to return to the college 
>had 
> a police escort. Then there were so many we took to the streets. The robo 
> cops were no where to be found. Maybe they finally realised, the whole 
>world 
> is watching!!!
> 
> I highly recommend you check out http://www.indymedia.org
> in fact if you don't you should be taken off the listserv. I couldn't be 
> everywhere at once, but these independent media guys were everywhere 
>because 
> their network was so underground and expansive. I could have gotten a 
>cool 
> indy press badge if I had found their center and signed a code of conduct.
> We now wait from reports of Dave. He's still there, maybe still sitting 
>in 
> at the prison demanding our sisters and brothers in jail solidarity be 
> released without charge.
> 
> I already have a 20 min video of footage taped Tues., out and edited by 
> Weds. These peeps are quick!! Also in the mail when it is finished will 
>be 
> an 8hr. tape. That probably won't come in until we are out for break, but 
>we 
> will have it for posterity.
> I'll show this video to anyone anytime who wants to see it. We should 
>have a 
> meeting or gathering so lots of us can see it at once and have a huge 
> discussion about what happened in Seattle, and i want to hear how great 
>our 
> actions of solidarity in Chapel tHrill went!!
> 
> Peace  Love  Solidarity
> 
> Jennifer
> 
> 
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