Police Wallop Capitol Hill by David Sadoway 2:26am Wed Dec 1 '99 Reporter's excellent account of his trip home from the Independent Media Center, 6-11 p.m. Tuesday. As the curfew closed over Seattle last night, task forces of riot police from city, county, and state drove the stragglers and stranded from the downtown vicinity. The city purportedly maintained bus service from 4th and Jackson, the shifting police lines arbitrarily determined the exit routes for people leaving downtown.
The police channelled many people up Pine Street and across the I-5 bridge at Boren. Apparently in response to looting on Pike Street, a large number of police had pressed onto lower Capitol Hill to quell the unrest. "The cops don't have jurisdiction past Boren," cried one Capitol Hill resident as a police phalanx made its first surge beyond Pine and Minor, already beyond the curfew boundary set by Mayor Paul Schell Tuesday evening. Protestors and residents reported only minor property damage beyond the curfew zone. However, the ensuing two hours after 7 pm, police in full riot gear, armed with tear gas, rifles, and batons, made repeated advances east on Pine into the Capitol Hill neighborhood. A few of the anti-WTO epithets remained to be heard. Nor did any further looting or violence occur among the protestors. Instead, the chants "we live here, we live here" rose up from an increasingly indignant crowd about 300. A sergeant from the SPD ordered the crowd to disperse. Only seconds elapsed before the volleys of tear gas canisters and stun grenades struck the crowd. Alternately, the crowd retreated in fear and then returned to face off with the police, who were gradually pushing up Pine Street. The pattern recurred throughout the hour, as the police crossed Bellvue. By 8:30 p.m., several people had been gassed more severely and one was rushed to the hospital. While many remained in the streets, others gathered in bars and restaurants along Pine. Shortly before 9 p.m., the police made their decisive sweep. Advancing with an armored vehicle, approximately 50 officers launched tear gas and fired rubber bullets into the crowd, pushing them all the way to Harvard Avenue. Bar patrons were caught inside and choked on the gas. The situation deteriorated as residents responded by erecting a barricade outside the Egyptian Theater and smashing the rear window of a police car. By 11 p.m., police cleared the area. They reportedly dispatched a bomb squad to detonate a device found in a garage off Harvard. "If the police had just held their line at Boren, we would have just gone home to bed and none of this would have happened," said Riz, a Capitol Hill resident, shaking his head as sirens continued to wail at 11 p.m. Going off the map on my page (http://home.earthlink.net/~simoncooke) you can see that the next street south of the one that my apartment's on is... dan dan daaaarn... Pine :) I'm just glad I wasn't in my apartment for it. Sheesh. Simon
