Of course they did.

They pepper sprayed at least two known media, and let the anarchists from Portland return home.

Win win.

Oh, wait, isn't this Bizarro World?

Funny how nobody got sprayed or arrested at the awesome immigration rights march earlier, even though those people were mostly brown. Of course, they also had a point of view, which the other folks didn't, and expressed it with dignity and intelligence, neither of which were on offer at the later fiasco.

But you've got Will in Seattle on your side, so you'll win the battle of public opinion [snicker snortle chortle ho].

Bull. The cops responded to kids throwing plastic water bottles with flash "balls" and pepper spray. They were rude, angry, and vicious. The spd sucks.

Hey fnarf, why don't you advocate more physical violence against people, you cowardly fuck?

@6, no prob, sweetcakes. Hit 'em again, officers.

Thank you, @5; you're making my case for me. Whatever universe you inhabit where one can throw bottles at the police and not expect anything to happen to you is not one the rest of us care to live in. We'd appreciate it if you would kindly get the fuck out of our city and stay out.

I'll ask again, since I'm not having any luck getting an answer: why is it that the immigration rights protesters didn't get sprayed and arrested? What possible interpretation of your actions can there be but that you wanted to get sprayed and beaten, so you provoked that to happen? @5 admits it right there. You're in the wrong, and you got what you deserved, and you know it.

Bullshit, "fnarf", one kid throwing a water bottle does not equate justly to pepper spraying a crowd of people. The cops were aggressive and desperate to keep the protest out of downtown because of the embarrassment they suffered last year. They deliberately provoked an already aggravated crowd in order to justify their third-world tactics. I was there as an observer.

I live in this city too and I'm not leaving it and I live in a world much wider than the one you can only see behind your screen, you cowardly simpleton. Judging by the amount of time you spend commenting on here I'd say you never leave it.

It's a shame the SPD squandered all their credibility on... well, pretty much everything for the last few years. Even when they're in the right, they'll always sound like giant dicks.

@8, fuck off. Actions have consequences. Throwing bottles at the police is a violent act that will always, always, always get the reaction you got, or worse. Third-world tactics, my big fat arse, that was very moderate policing by any standard, as moderate as you would have gotten in any city in the world.

And you still haven't answered my question. Because you can't. Because you are a shithead. Throwing bottles at the cops and expecting nothing to happen. Brilliant. How many squares do you get to mark off your faux-radical pinhead bingo card?

SPD let them off easy, they even allowed them their right to assemble which is far more than the SPD allowed us during WTO. But the over privileged child anarchist still cry foul when they receive a much deserved ass kicking from the SPD, who kept the kid gloves on.

.Yes the police use force, it is what they are paid to to. At times they have used too much force, but this was not one of them. They also have a duty, both to the Constitution and to maintaining social order.

The "anarchist" I use that term loosely as they seem to have no understanding of nonaggression principles, purposely provoked a response that followed the normal continuum of force, basically "you push me, I punch/pepperspray you, you throw rocks, I shoot flash bangs etc etc"

Fucking with the police is like taunting an angry dog then crying when you get bit. I think there are better ways to attempt social change then provoking a police riot that in the end further restricts the rights of citizens and increases the states monopoly on force.

Really I am just saddened and disappointed at the current state of the American protestor.

Has anyone bothered to show these legal gang leaders the video of one of their members taunting a citizen to "take a shot" at him?

Sorry, I usually side with the people on this, but I saw and heard. No way. The "people" in this case were DICKS. The police did what they had to, I would have done what they did. You purposely try to incite them and then they react... don't cry like a baby and say the police were using excessive force. Move to the Middle East or Russia or other wonderful parts of the world if you want to scream excessive force. I was completely unimpressed. Talk about looking for a fight and looking like a fool.

Thank you, SPD. Job well done.

"COME ON! COME ON! TAKE A SHOT!" - said by one of Seattle's finest (if by finest you mean a thug with a badge looking to incite violence). The video of that is someplace here on SLOG. I'd say fuck the SPD but they don't deserve to be fucked.

@4
Perfectly stated!

Plus - the "free speech advocates" or whatever the hell they are, and their petulant water bottle abuse, nicely distract the city from important immigration issues.

Hey Fnarf, what do you think Erica C. Barnett did to get tear gassed? Do you think she threw stuff at the cops too? What about last year when Brendan got pepper sprayed? What was he doing to provoke the SPD? Being a journalist is not a criminal offense. A few people throw stuff, and the SPD mace the whole crowd. A baby gets hit by a flash bang, and it's the mother's fault for being there? If that's how the SPD lets people express their first amendment rights, it's no wonder they're being sued by the DOJ.

It's absolutely crazy that someone would actually believe that throwing anything wouldn't result in force. Don't want to have a cop react forcefully while you are marching and yelling with your stupid face covered? Don't throw shit. If you throw shit, be prepared to deal with the consequences. Brought it on yourselves.

@11 well said. I can`t believe I agree with you. About anything.

Can I call the one on the right Officer YumYum? Because that's what he is....

@21: Sure, I assume your fantasy includes an arrest, frisking, handcuffs, and steamed up squad car windows.

Isn't pepper spray basically supposed to be the alternative to firing a gun--which cops are trained to use with lethal, rather than merely injurious, intent?

Fnarf, your comments on this always help me think more clearly. I appreciate it very much.

@ 22 Wow, raindrop, project much?

@24, yeah, I know - Sorry Catalina. It's the Don Rickles in me - I try to keep it from rising to the surface.

Raindrop dear, you are a naughty naughty boy.

interesting that there were several backpacks and bags found scattered around the march route that contained spraypaint, bricks, rocks and other, um, destructive items.

Only way forward is with complete disciplined non violent protest and civil disobedience.Violent and destructive behavior only alienate the masses who's support is necessary for success. Violence actually turns majority of people against protesters and their message no matter how just. Citizens will side with police if protester generated violence persists. Moral high ground is lost and protesters and message will be marginalized or lost completely by media Finally, masses, middle class, working classes will not show up to attend a riot.

@29: Seriously. Today is the 50th anniversary of the Children's Crusade in Birmingham (aka Bombingham). That was the moral power of the civil rights movement. Be peaceful in asserting your rights no matter how obscenely violent law enforcement is.

The single biggest contributor to the success of the civil rights movement may well have been Bull Connor. He revolted not just a nation, but a planet and within a few years he was in the dustbin of history and the moral arc had surged eons past him.

Yesterday shows the contrast. One protest loudly, emphatically, articulately, and peacefully making their case. Another a group of privileged spoiled brats trying to provoke a confrontation w/SPD in hopes they would be seen as victims of oppression.

One group may help make social change. The other is actively inciting opposition to that change. They have no moral authority.

Hey Fnarf, what do you think Erica C. Barnett did to get tear gassed?

Do we really know that happened? She has already given contradictory accounts of the events.

It's already well established that Fnarf's a douche. Problem is that he's right in this case (beside his hypocritical and despicable call for violence).

But this is honestly really, really boring. There's a lot of time spent talking about the cost of this vandalism. What about the cost of not having an equitable society or real democracy? The news is too lazy to ask that question, but black bloc anarchists sure aren't helping--even those who may be sympathetic to any professed convictions they hold yawn at this bullshit.

It's already well established that Fnarf's a douche. Problem is that he's right in this case (beside his hypocritical and despicable call for violence).

He didn't "call for violence," you dumbshit. He made a sarcastic reply to a typical Seattle fuckwit.

http://youtu.be/e99AhG4dCgI?t=3m0s

Try to watch to the end without thinking "will somebody PLEASE kick her ass?"

The question I have to ask is, why is it that this particular group of people can not field a directed, clear protest against something without assaulting police officers or smashing private property?

Also, this was not a "riot." The police resort to the measures you saw yesterday to keep it from becoming an actual riot.

SPD, they respect the truth, and only lie the minimum amount necessary to protect their egos.

If you throw anything at anyone, that act is legally considered to be an assault. More than plastic bottles were thrown in this case. The police acted appropriately, greeting non lethal force from the crowd with non lethal force to disperse a mob that was growing more violent. Again, why was there no such problems with the protests from ethnic minorities earlier in the day? What was the difference?

@34 You can go fuck yourself if it will help.

@36 - this group has a directed, clear protest, that they do every time. Just because it's stupid and pointless doesn't mean it's not consistent.

Smash shit, act like complete assholes, antagonize the cops, get arrested, cause all sorts of negative attention, then whine about it afterwards. They like being dicks and breaking stuff just to break stuff. They're criminals. There's no real method to their madness. It's not really more complicated than that.

@34 You can go fuck yourself if it will help.

Looks like someone pissed in a Seattle fuckwit's Kumbaya juice!

If "Actions have Consequences" then why are all the tax scofflaws and Grand Theft Artistes in Finance still roaming free?

(pin drops)

Yeah, I thought so. One rule for the Rich, another rule for the people who actually do stuff.

That's very sweet that the pigs think so much about us in the clown army.

Yes, we've all heard them SAY this over and over, but the fact is they don't respect free speech rights sometimes. They respect gearing up and playing soldier, marching down the streets in a line in full riot gear, shoving their batons and lobbing flash grenades, and it's excessive, even despite what happened on Cap Hill. That was there and arrests should be made, but don't punish the people who were downtown because you, as an ill-trained, steroid-fueled police officer signed up for the police force never expecting to get injured.

Injuries aren't preferable, but you're in law enforcement. Sometimes shit happens, and if you're afraid of an injury, you're a danger to the public and your fellow officers. It you can't interact with the public without riot gear, you're in the wrong business and we don't need you here. We need community policing with officers who aren't scared of the public.

Fnarf: straw man. You're correct that someone who throws something at a cop should expect a reaction. I think most of us agree that some reaction is warranted--arrest and trial. The argument you are (carefully, I suspect) dodging is that the reaction to someone throwing something should *not* be the police lobbing explosives into a crowd or dousing the crowd with chemical agents.

The police got to justify their paramilitary gear and training and to practice in a real-life situation in which the actual risk to them was low. They got a ton of overtime pay. They got to take out their aggression and live out their commando fantasies. They got to play hero to the DSA, gigantic chain retailers, and too-big-to-prosecute bankers. Even after they threw water on a grease fire and squeegeed it up to Capitol Hill, hillsters praise them.

The anti-capitalists enjoyed themselves and drew a ton of attention. There was wall-to-wall coverage. They once again demonstrated just how violent state actors become in the face of aggressive dissent. We all saw what the police will do on camera to privileged caucasians, hopefully reminded of how bad it gets for the underprivileged when police think nobody is watching. Without the cops' overreaction, the anticapitalist march would have received no more attention that the immigration march did.

The immigrants-rights marchers threw a wonderful parade that almost everyone involved enjoyed (including cops, excluding downtown commuters), and that nobody else noticed. They were aided by the anticapitalists who forced the mayor and the police to drag out the good-protester/bad-protester theme and praise the conveniently meek participants in the immigrants parade.