Report from the Front Line

by Nicole Kelly

DAY 1

I woke Tuesday to the news of mass protesting in the streets of Seattle. It was estimated that there were 40,000 people protesting the World Trade Organization (WTO). Things turned violent by 8 a.m., which was the beginning of the tear gas volleys from police. By 1 p.m. things in downtown were chaotic. I watched as the mayor and governor declared a state of civil emergency. The police went through and cleared out downtown Seattle using tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets. By 7 p.m. police pushed the crowed out of downtown and into a residential district about two miles from downtown.

I went to the scene of the most recent disturbances at about 10 p.m. I made about two blocks before I saw a cloud of tear gas wafting down some stairs that led up to the main street where the police and protesters were. A young woman came down the stairs tears streaming down her face. Soon someone was there pouring water into her eyes trying to wash out the tear gas off of her face. I looked at the stairs and seeing that there was no longer any visible signs of tear gas I went up to get some pictures. I made it up the stairs and maybe 10 feet when the mostly dispersed gas hit me. Having never been exposed to tear gas I guess I didn't realize how much it hurt. Well, it hurts... a lot. Even after waiting for five minutes after the gas was released I had to retreat back down the stairs and get my eyes washed out. I sat down next to the girl I saw when I first came to the area. She was a WTO protest organizer from Oregon, her group was peaceful. She then showed me a rubber bullet she had picked up off the street. I was surprised at what it looked like. It was about an inch in diameter with a small hole in the center. The projectile was soft, it almost looked like tire tread. She said that this was the nice kind of rubber bullet, the other kind was harder and hurt more. I went back up to the street to see what the police were doing (they were about a block away). Down at the end of the block were the police standing in formation looking more like characters in a Sci-fi movie than police. There weren't many people near me. Mostly people taking photos like me. Then the police started banging on their riot shields. Then they gassed again. I managed to not be hit again. I moved up the road, farther away from the tear gas. There I found that some people had turned over a couple of dumpsters and set them on fire. The scene was strange I most remember people lining up in front of the fire and taking pictures of each other, kind of like how people do it in front of, say, the Grand Canyon. Some of the people here were spray painting buildings and setting things afire. After awhile I headed back towards the police because I saw another fire down the road. I didn't quite make it there before I was hit with tear gas. The police had been firing the gas I could clearly hear it, but I didn't think it had made that far down the street. So I returned to the dumpster fire. During the time I stood there waiting for the police to move up this way a fight broke out between two people in the crowd. It seems one of the men was a resident of the neighborhood and didn't appreciate the other man spray painting the side of a building. The crowd separated them yelling that this was supposed to be nonviolent protest. The other major cry was to stop damaging their neighborhood. Most people at this corner were hanging out, watching the police and generally seemed interested in what was happening, some were there to continue the protest, other showed up to have their picture taken to prove they were there that night then leaving directly after. Soon the police moved to where I was standing. They came in cleared the intersection. Got the fire department to the fire and when the fire was out they left. The crowd dispersed shortly afterwards and I went home. When I got home I heard about a friend of mine who was tear gassed in the afternoon while sitting in a coffee shop.

DAY 2

I got up and flipped on the TV to see if anything was happening today. Things had changed over the night. The police were taking a much more aggressive approach to crowd control. The national guard had been called and were out in the streets. It looked like a war zone. There were protesters showing bruises received from rubber bullets. Once again the protesters moved to the residential district. I got there at 8 p.m. I knew that the police were in the area, but as I approached the main street I could not see them. In fact, there didn't seem to be many people out on the streets. What I was taken back by was how clean the neighborhood was. It was kind of eerie because it looked like nothing had occurred the night before. Protesters and residents had cleaned up the trash, glass and graffiti earlier in the day. I went towards the main concentration of people and I was caught by surprise. My first real idea of where the police were came with the sound of tear gas canisters exploding and then by the sight of the gas billowing around me. That was my first real experience with the tear gas. The night before I had only gotten the ending waves of it. That day I got a strong dose of the gas. The next few minutes were surreal as I ran to get out of the cloud of gas. First it hurts the eyes. Then the nose. Then the throat. I stopped and started trying to get water to flush my face. I got the water from one of the people in what I called the water patrol. These people were carrying water and offered it to those who were gassed. After I recovered I retreated a couple of blocks off the main street. From where I could hear the concussion grenades and see the gas rising off the street a good 50 feet into the air. People were retreating off the main road, but this time there were residents too. People who were gassed while trying to get home. People caught in the line of fire on the way to the grocery store. Still the gas rose as the police marched down this road clearing everyone off and the police helicopter buzzed above the street shining a light down onto the scene. They marched to one end of the strip and back again clearing anyone in the way. For awhile I was trying to determine what was happening and then I heard a large group of people chanting, "Go home. Go home" to the police. This group seemed to be residents angry that their neighborhood had become a focus of police activity. They had been marching towards the police precinct, but were stopped by the police two blocks away from the precinct. It was about 9 p.m. For an hour there was conflict as police launched tear gas and protesters threw bottles, but the crowd did not disperse. The situation seemed to calm as both sides stayed to their side of the street. What had seemed to be a crowd of a couple hundred ballooned to 1500 and the police presence was also mounting. More police and national guard arrived. What was odd was the contrast between the two groups on the street. The protesters were sitting on the street, drumming and singing Christmas carols while the police and national guard, still growing numbers, stood at perfect attention in full riot gear. They were only a block apart, but it was two different worlds. Through bullhorns the police told the crowd to disperse. The police gave another warning to leave or be forcibly removed from the area at about 12:30 a.m. A negotiator arrived to negotiate between the two sides. After over an hour it seemed as though the negotiations were going well. Then the air was suddenly filled with tear gas. A charge by the police complete with concussion grenades and rubber bullets. The police, running, waded into the crowd with night sticks, shooting while they moved. They cleared the street in about five minutes. They gave no warning. It was 2 a.m.

Nicole Kelly is a free-lance writer from Seattle. You can write to her at nkelly23*AT*yahoo.com.