Robocops police battle protesters in Seattle
Protesters & Police Clash In Seattle Again – Blast Ball Grenades & OC Spray (CHOP Round 2)
While covering protests in Seattle I got gassed again and hit with probably pepper spray because I couldn’t see, my eyes were burning and my respiratory system was in distress as I coughed and stumbled off to get away from the chemical agents used on the crowd by police.
Protesters built barricade of burning dumpsters at the original site of #CHOP (Capitol Hill Occupied Protest) at 11th and Pine – one block from the East Precinct station. Police attacked with blast ball grenades/pepper spray, etc. U can use my video with attribution.
Here’s the point where everything went off last night. Seattle police attacked protesters with blast ball grenades which exploded with a loud bang and shot out fire/sparks then dispersed a noxious gas. It was nasty! While covering the events as a journalist I got caught in the middle of it. You can use my video with attribution.
Some cops physically attacked the crowd, grabbing umbrellas, etc. They arrested some folks and pinned them to the ground with three or four cops on top of them. It looked very painful!
Later in the evening police had issued a disbursal order to a crowd of people at Cal Anderson Park but after a long tense stand off the police retreated, de-escalating the situation. After that most people left the area.
Police Attack Seattle Protesters With Blast Ball Grenades & Gas
This video was shared by @MarcusKulik on Twitter. It shows police attacking protesters in the previously designated CHOP zone formerly known as the Seattle Autonomous Zone on Capitol Hill near the East Precinct station. Police used pepper spray and “blast ball” grenades on the crowd of anti-racism/police brutality marchers. The grenades cause loud explosive sounds, deploy tear gas, and are incendiary devices which burn at extremely high temperatures.
Police weapons control crowds, but may heighten chances of violence at protests
“Just another day in Seattle…” as my song goes – “Protest In Seattle”. SPD is still assaulting Black Lives Matter demonstrators, even after multiple lawsuits, an attempted ban on crowd control weapons by the city council, and two restraining orders issued by the courts. None of this seems to dissuade the police from brutalizing and injuring protesters during violent arrests. Over 15,000 complaints have been filed against the Seattle Police Dept.
Lawsuit claims Seattle and Washington failed to protect protesters from drivers and harm. “The plaintiffs also condemned Seattle police for crowd control tactics like tear gas and blast balls.”
Some protesters say Seattle police officers chilling free speech with recent arrests
Mark Taylor-Canfield from Seattle is a weekly guest at The Jeff Santos Show broadcasting from Boston. He blogs at Daily Kos, reports and serves as Contributing Editor for Democracy Watch News and is a guest columnist at The Capitol Hill Times. Jeff Santos Show: https://revolutionradionetwork.com
MTC Blog: https://mtcbog.blogspot.com