Seattle issues emergency order following mayhem

[shawn703]

Source: Seattle Times


Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn says he's making an emergency declaration allowing police to confiscate items that can be used as weapons following violent May Day protests that left storefronts and car windows shattered.

Police said officers made at least two arrests after hundreds of people marched through downtown Tuesday afternoon. A 23-year-old man was arrested for vandalism and a 19-year-old man with a knife was also arrested.

McGinn said dozens of black-clad protesters were using items that looked like flagpoles as weapons. He said his order would enable police to take those items away from people before they are used to cause damage. McGinn said his action would help protect public safety as protests continued into Tuesday evening.

Read more: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2018116524_apwamaydayprotestsseattle6thld.html

[DCKit]

1. I have as big an issue with masked, face-painted protesters...

as I do with cops in full riot gear with their badge numbers covered up.

Both are equally suspect (and probably getting their paychecks from the same employer).

[WHEN CRABS ROAR]

2. Well said, I agree.

But I am getting two distinct messages with the press release.
Only two persons arrested?
One for vandalism and one for having a knife.
With the description of all that destruction and only two people arrested, really?

[DCKit]

3. Last night was the setup for the crackdown.

I read an article about cops driving by and smiling while the destruction was taking place.

The MSM is going to portray these incidents exactly the way that TPTB tell them to, and the majority of our fellow numbnuts are going to fall for it.

[ManiacJoe]

4. The "anarchists" are fairly smart.

The destruction is done where the cops are not.

Just before the cops arrive, the anarchists remove their black clothes and merge back into the crowds, according to the articles.

[TBF]

5. Amazing how that works. nt

[applegrove]

7. Did the people have instructions to point at anybody wearing black and a kerchif over their mouth

and yell "black bloc, black bloc" all the while moving away from them? Cause that is what was done last fall in many places.

[nolabear]

6. I'm watching now on the local Seattle news.

It's one of those tense situations where an upset faction and an opportunistic faction end up yelling at the police, at one another, at the corporations, and though the point doesn't get lost it certainly seems to get diluted. People are yelling at one another and the Occupy people are surrounded by one barricade of bicycle cops and another of riot cops.

That said people are moving in the direction they want to be, and so far so good. Since some Occupy protesters have their faces covered as do potential Anarchists, it's pretty hard to tell who might be whom.

NOW the police are carrying a person bodily away, someone has been injured by a baton, and several more arrests have been made. Apparently a cop tried to take a flag away and the protester hit him, setting off a melee.