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Anti-War Protest In
Seattle
February 15, 2003
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SEATTLE, WASHINGTON (2/15) -
Having been a part of the Nov 1999 WTO (World Trade
Organization) riots in Seattle, and knowing the
Seattle Police Force’s history of dealing with zealous
crowds, I was half expecting to be writing about
similar events when asked to give a report on the
Seattle anti-war demonstrations. It is with a feeling
of relief that I have nothing of the sort to report to
you. Actually, there was almost a let down and
slightly surprised feeling from the crowd when, score
by score, they would reach the end of the march with
no real hitch.
The demonstration started
at 11:30 am, PST at the Seattle Center. For those of
you unfamiliar with Seattle, the Seattle Center, sight
of the 1962 World Fair, is a community gathering
center which includes various shops, the local sports
arena, several rides and the well known Space Needle.
There were performances by a few nameless musicians,
plus a very talented gospel choir. There were also a
wide variety of speakers, most notably U.S. Rep. Jim
McDermott, D-Seattle. Rep. McDermott urged President
Bush to heed the message of the demonstrators. “By
bombing Iraq,” he asked, “What will we gain? The
hatred of the world’s Muslims.”
Starting at approximately 1:00
pm, PST, there was a 2.7 mile procession south through
downtown Seattle to the INS (Immigration and
Naturalization Service in Seattle’s International
District). There are currently immigrants being held
there on the verge of being deported. There was only
one arrest along the way of an individual who was
charged with defacing public property. Crowd sizes
have been estimated anywhere between 15,000 and 30,000
which would make this demonstration rival or exceed
the any Vietnam demonstrations held in Seattle in the
60s.
All and all, it was an extremely
positive, incident free day in Seattle (Sorry all you
sensationalist out there). I felt extremely blessed
and glad to be a part of it. |
