We saw a lot of videos, but not one has been singled out as showing SPD violence against the Mayday protestors at Cal Anderson. Please provide the link if I'm wrong.

If your anti-cop hardon lasts longer than 4 hours, call a doctor.

"After it lost control of the crowd, SPD defaulted to violence against protesters."

I've heard this complaint percolating since the event; what exactly should the police have done to "keep control of the crowd"? Also, do the violent protestors have any agency or responsibility for their actions? I've not yet heard that the police "started" the violence.

At big public events, cops are like porta-potties -- nobody has anything good to say about them until they really need one

The Seattle police's actions at the Cal Anderson rally were nothing short of heroic. Let's be grateful they put themselves on the line to support everyone's right to free speech—not just one "team".

I seriously doubt this action represents the views of the majority of the community. Once again a loud and vocal minority activists have bullied an organization into making a decision that actually does reduce public safety for their event in the name of performance virtue signaling. I pray that nothing bad happens at the event because if it does the harm caused will solely be laid at the feet of this committee and they should be sued for everything they own for caving into a bunch of boorish miscreants.

They do realize that White Center isn't in Seattle, right? No, I didn't read the article. My eyes rolled so far back in reaction to that headline that it took me a few minutes to recover.

I am just thankful my days of involvement in Pride events are long over. The endless stupid arguments and dramas bring out the worst in people.

@3 — “Also, do the violent protestors have any agency or responsibility for their actions?”

According to The Stranger, whose longstanding editorial position is that those who engage in criminal behavior should always be prioritized over the law abiding, no. This presents a bit of a problem when you have an utterly corrupt administration in DC who is constantly committing crimes, but The Stranger resolves it by deciding that the people that they don’t like should be held accountable by the legal system but the people they do like shouldn’t. Which is identical to Trump’s position.

Horseshoe theory in action.

Considering the not insignificant risk that some fundamentalist yahoo will want to attack the pride festivities I don't understand how keeping the police away helps make the event "safe, joyful, and affirming for our entire LGBTQ+ community."

Without the police there it seems this just becomes a target rich environment for some religious wacko like Mohamed Sabry Soliman.

Tally so far:

Common sense: 10
White Center Pride/Viv: 0

@10 Oh don't worry, they've announced “a trained team of LGBTQ+ folks and allies will handle safety, focusing on de-escalation"!

A bunch of MAGA red hats showed up apparently from what my friends said and walked around but nothing bad happened.