After hearing from my family member who lives in the Puget Sound
area, I would encourage restraint in jumping to conclusions about the
violence in Seattle around the WTO meetings. Once again, a small
number of persons, with no agenda except making trouble, appear to be
responsible for the property damage. The rest of the thousands of
demonstrators were allowed to peacefully protest and were not
interfered with.
I paste his comments, with permission:
> The protesters in Seattle were, for the most part, orderly, non
>aggressive and peaceful. Peaceful assembly (with permits) is guaranteed
>by the Constitution of these great United States of America. There were
>50,000, plus demonstrators here and the vast majority of them were just
>in the way. (lawfully). The rioting that took place was done by a small
>group of individuals, all dressed in black including black head masks,
>who stated that they had no interest in the WTO, that the press was
>against them and the police were a bunch of lackeys and that they had no
>respect for any of them. They then went and destroyed buildings with
>spray -paint, broke windows and looted stores. They also slashed the
>tires on 40 city busses, broke windows and performed as any mob or such
>group would be expected to perform. The police were busy containing the
>crowds on the first day and could not address these issues. The media
>later provided the police with pictures and concrete evidence of the
>malicious vandals. The media referred to them as not part of the WTO
>protest and called them cowards because of their faces being covered and
>their unwillingness to state their group or purpose. The next day the
>police arrested over 400 of these people who were using the WTO protest
>as a means to simply loot and pillage the city. The media believes that
>6 different groups were involved in the protest and that these "cowards"
>were only a very small part of the total. A very few 100 as opposed to
>over 50,000 legitimate protesters. The police also provided a corridor
>for the WTO delegates so they could get to their meetings. It is right
>and proper for the people to have their say in this, or any issue, but
>they do not have the right to burn down the building or murder the
>delegates. (Another issue)
>The protesters made their point, but most fail to understand that the
>WTO is not the cause but rather one of the results of world trade
agreements.
He later added the following comments:
Approximately 600 people were ultimately arrested. The "cowards" all
in black stated they were Anarchists.
