Left-Wing Violence Rocks Seattle: Police Attacked, Businesses Destroyed, Media is Mostly Silent
SEATTLE — Police arrested more than a dozen people and used flash-bang grenades and pepper spray after apparent anarchists and May Day marchers converged in downtown Seattle, throwing pipes, fireworks and rocks, lighting flares and sparking confrontations with officers.
Protesters met at Seattle Central Community College at the busy intersection of Broadway and Pine Street and then spilled into the street, blocking traffic.
KIRO 7 Eyewitness News reporter Essex Porter said at first there appeared to be more spectators than participants and the gathering seemed to be more of a party than a rally.
But as the crowd began to move, flares were lit and the crowd became noisy as it made its way toward downtown on Pike Street, flanked by police officers.
Seattle police tweeted that someone in the crowd broke a window at Sun Liquor on East Pike Street and Belmont Avenue. People clad in black, with their faces covered, were seen in the mix.
As the group of several hundred people moved north on Sixth Avenue after turning off of Pike Street, police said some in the group were throwing metal bars and water bottles at business’ windows.
