I'm Glad to see that the forum people are equating what is happening in Seattle with Y2K

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When I first published the web site with my photos on it, I hoped that the viewers wouldn't see just the caos in Seattle but the reduction of a city to a policed area because of a few.

Should Y2K turn ugly, it will be the few that cause the masses to be restricted in their actions. Yes, these protestors and demonstrators "Shut down Sea town", but the majority did so peacefully. They wanted to get their point across - don't forget the people outside your meeting. IN the pictures you see of 4th and pike with the dumpster burning, the masses of these people are watching and waiting.

There was an incident of a bottle being thrown from somewhere around the large white blob (not me) to our right of the fire. there were immediate groans from the crowd and repeated cries of "we are non-violent". That bottle, by the way, cruised all the way over te police line and landed on the second row of police (lower in photo) who saw it coming, knelt down and raised their riot schields. That was a tense moment.

Another bottle came in from the photo's left side, hit the "peacekeeper" (armoured troop carrier). Once again with the same results.

The protestors didn't start those fires or overturn the dumpsters, the tag-along's did. those bent on destruction. I hope that the national news also showed the people out today to help the storekeepers of down town Seattle to get the paint off the walls. These kind folks were asked to stop cuz they were getting off not only the paint but also the city grime. The cleaned spots were looking better than the rest of the building! :)

An officer (state patrol) that I spoke with late today said that they expect these same trouble makers to be back on 1/1/2000. He "hoped to God" that it didn't get this bad again.

By the way, the "unarmed" national guards do carry a nice hardwood riot stick of about 3 feet in length. Hopefull I will have photos up on my site tomorrow of these guardsmen (women) "who have been trained in crowd control".

See ya later -

robert

-- Same as B4 (NWphotog@Foxcomm.net), December 03, 1999

Answers

Wow robert. It looks as though you got this shot out the window of an office on the 8th or 9th floor of the joshua greene bldg.... Did you notice if Carroll's jewelers and (I think it's Zales) on the ground floor of the 4th & Pike bldg got any broken windows? (I once worked on the 8th floor of the greene bldg)

-- (formerly known as nobody@nowhere.ccc), December 03, 1999.

...either he was on the 8th floor or his molotov cocktail went of prematurely ;-P

-- Y2KGardener (govegan@aloha.net), December 03, 1999.

Do the organisers of these rallies have any policy on dealing with rioters? Like: "We urge our law abiding supporters to suppress or sieze any violent protestors, and to hand them over to the police if they will not desist?"

Just curious. If 99% of the people there are law abiding, can't they sit on the 1% of provocateurs?

-- Colin MacDonald (roborogerborg@yahoo.com), December 03, 1999.


The desperate excuses to post WTO "protests" articles and contrails has really become stale. It is so off topic. One thread I could understand people being people but not the numerous.

-- Paula (chowbabe@pacbell.net), December 03, 1999.

Dear Paula,

Just for you, i will make no mention of the contrails seem during the demonstrations, chemical or not!

Take care and don't run with scissors robert

-- Same as B4 (NWphotog@Foxcomm.net), December 03, 1999.



You know what really suprises me is that we haven't heard of ANY incidents involving protestors using firearms (just the police using rubber bullets and shotgun beanbags at point blank range). After all, we're *supposed* to be such a violent society that we can't be trusted with guns, so why haven't they been used?

Btw, if there really *were* agent provocateurs in the crowd, wouldn't this be the perfect opportunity to get some more anti-gun press? Especially if .gov had any plans on confiscating them in January...

-TECH32-

-- TECH32 (TECH32@NOMAIL.COM), December 03, 1999.


What a lot of you have failed to realise as yet, is that 99% of the cops agree with the State Patrol officer, they are hoping to God it doesn't get this bad for Y2K. And it will probably be the same percentage - maybe 1% max - that will cause any rollover riot problems that will have an effect on the rest of us. And, you should also be thinking about the fact that the area that was affected by the WTO problems was a very small part of Seattle - a few square blocks. If things should happen nationwide in the cities - it would be on a larger scale than what happened in Seattle and police plus National Guard plus the military if used, are going to have an impossible task of quelling the problems, with or without force. The disrupters (ones I have heard named were from an anarchist group out of Eugene Ore.) said they would/did use the peaceful protestors as cover for their activities and have vowed the same disruption over the rollover in major cities up and down the West Coast - and WTO was their practice field. They also said things would be escalated for Y2K. Now, how do you want the police to react? Let it all go on because some innocents might get sprayed? No matter how rightious your cause or how innocent you may be, you need to take into account the fact that when that many people gather for whatever reason, there are bound to be some disrupters who feel it is their "right" to use you as a sheild. Be prepared.

-- Valkyrie (anon@please.xnet), December 03, 1999.

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