The Seattle Police Department (SPD) came to City Hall Tuesday to help Council President Sara Nelson shut up her political enemies, which included asylum-seekers and their lefty allies. The groups attended the public comment period of the meeting to ask the City once again to fund housing for hundreds of Venezuelan, Angolan, and Congolese refugees who will face homelessness if they do not win more funding.
According to SPD, police arrested and booked six protesters on suspicion of trespass. Cops also charged one of the protesters with obstruction. Over the phone, one of the jailed protesters, JD, said one of the other protesters was undocumented.
In their sweeping condemnation of the protesters, the new conservative council, who had to delay their vote to rename a street, demonstrated their intolerance for the kind of democratic participation that was pretty common before COVID-19, and that former socialist Council Member Kshama Sawant once encouraged.
“We need to move away from this egregious and divisive rhetoric,” said Council Member Rob Saka, who promised to listen to “community” while campaigning. “That might have played before in that last council. Not today. Doesn’t work with this council.”
Weird that some of the newbs on council would say they would “listen to community” whenever they didn’t want to answer a reporter’s question during campaign and now, here community is, going through the appropriate channels, and CM Nelson limits public comment and cuts the feed. https://t.co/Y2RfaUCUK3
— Hannah Krieg (@hannahkrieg) February 27, 2024
At the beginning of the meeting, Nelson announced that she would limit public comment to just 20 minutes. Why? She didn’t want to hear from the people—asylum-seekers and anti-surveillance advocates—who showed up to testify at the meeting.
The city council typically asks that commenters speak to an item on that meeting’s agenda, which included a resolution to rename a street after State Senator George Fleming, the second Black senator ever elected to that body. However, with the refugees’ precarious housing situation and the council’s upcoming vote on wasteful surveillance technology, both issues apparently felt timely for the public regardless of what was on the council’s calendar.
Still, Nelson said she did not “really want to participate in conversation that should be had with county leaders, state leaders, federal leaders.” She reminded asylum-seekers that Tukwila already promised to pay for a new heated tent they could move into by the end of the week. Plus, King County announced a $1 million grant that will one day pay a nonprofit to house them.
Though she tried to excuse her decision on a technicality, she still couldn’t resist taking a jab at the left in order to sell it to the normies. She accused lefty activists, particularly Stop The Sweeps, of exploiting the plight of the Tukwila refugees to advance their own anti-surveillance agenda. Her proof? Some Instagram infographics asking people to sign up for public comment Tuesday to support demands to house people and reject ShotSpotter. She called the show of solidarity “craven political opportunism.”
Public commenters fired back.
“I appreciate the outside agitator trope thrown out by a certain council member,” said Lauren, a regular public commenter who Nelson would probably count among the “craven.”
Lauren explained that the group’s two demands were related. If the council spends less money on toys for cops to track residents, then they can spend more money on dignified housing for asylum-seekers and other low-income people feeling the heat of the housing crisis. That’s how budgets work.
Lauren yielded most of her time to give more refugees a chance to speak, but only a handful of commenters, many lobbying off-topic for a repeal of Seattle’s minimum wage for gig workers, spoke before the 20 minutes ran out.
Nelson then tried to move on to the agenda, but the public commenters begged her to keep listening to them. They chanted over her until she called for a five-minute recess at around 2:37 pm. The Seattle Channel’s feed returned briefly at 2:45 pm, but it cut out again as Nelson had not yet regained control of the council chambers.
The live feed continued at 2:56 pm. Before Nelson ended the stream for a third time, she called for security to clear the room. She allowed members of the media and anyone who did not “contribute to the disturbance” to stay. According to eye-witnesses, six protesters stayed in council chambers against the orders of security. Others gathered outside chambers, yelling and pounding on the windows.
Via streetphotojournalism, here’s what it looks like on the scene with a few protesters holding it down in City Hall pic.twitter.com/C6POaELrFe
— Hannah Krieg (@hannahkrieg) February 27, 2024
At least six police officers came to remove the protesters. City Council spokesperson Dana Robinson Slote told The Stranger she did not know who called SPD, but typically security would call cops for back-up in these cases. It is unclear exactly how many people cops detained or whether the cops arrested those people and booked them into jail.
The Seattle Channel did not return to its broadcast until 4:01 pm. At that point, Nelson’s decision to ignore the asylum-seekers, ostensibly to save time, cost the council an hour and a half.
With order restored by the violent arm of the state, Nelson said the council could continue to do the “work of the people.” But “the people” stood outside the chambers and continued to pound on the windows while yelling, “Shame on you.”
The council tried to carry on with is business, but when Council Member Tammy Morales introduced her resolution, Council Member Cathy Moore interrupted. She said she felt physically threatened by the protesters, who she thought may break the windows. She called for the cops to arrest them, even though they left willingly when security ushered them out.
In a statement, a city council spokesperson said “to be clear – [the] disturbance was caused by a group of protesters and not refugees.” It is not clear how the City made that distinction.
Over the phone, one of the jailed protesters, JD, felt as if the council dismissed the concerns of the asylum-seekers and vowed to “keep holding these people to the fire” until the City finds a solution.
Bennett, another arrested protester, said he “hates how this country treats immigrants, and that if he were a refugee he’d want people getting arrested for him.
Nelson did not respond to my request for comment, but with the council’s power to revoke public comment, who knows how inviting she will be of conversation in City Hall in the future. It is becoming more and more clear everyday that Nelson and her cronies are opposed to hearing from the left, even through the so-called appropriate channels.
Hyperbole much? DSA and their comrades are a joke.
Issues in Tukwila are Tukwila’s and the county’s issues. People who shout down the city council and disturb official proceedings get arrested. Welcome to the new city council that stands on business.
It’s so crazy they arrested them just for being political enemies…wait, they were screaming over everyone & trespassing? You’d think they would’ve charged them with that instea…wait, they did? I have to say, one might get a slightly misleading impression from the headline!
This article literally made me subscribe to the Seattle Times—I’ve gotten by for the years I’ve lived here without it, but this piece finally solidified that I need an actual news source, and I can’t keep pretending I’m getting that here.
Angry mobs disrupting an elected body from doing its business always need to be stopped and the rioters arrested.
Whether the elected body is the Congress of the United States conducting business in the United States Capital, or the Seattle City Council conducting business in Seattle City Hall protests can not be tolerated.
The Seattle City Council has put up with these protests for far too long. It is long past the time to end these demonstrations.
The Stranger and Hannah preach a lot about equality and equity. The Jan 6th protesters at the Capitol building got prison terms that ranged from a couple of days to 22 years. I hope these protesters are treated equally. We can only hope the 6 protesters that were arrested are treated equally.
Whether your an extremist in the Sawant camp or in Trump’s–we must deliver equality under the law.
Sara Nelson looks like a dried-up toad and Cathy Moore looks like a Karen who would call the cops on young black men wearing a hoodie inside Starbucks.
That said, I would be pissed if some asshole protesters wanted to go to the Seattle City Council for Tukwila’s problems.
Public comment periods at council meetings are bad enough, but this must have been really something.
GBGB dear, aside from the editorial page, which is boomer central (calm down, fellow boomer), the Times is not a bad paper.
It’s government hearing – not open-mic night.
Limiting public comment to a set amount of time and to topics on the agenda is the norm in every lawmaking body I can think of in our state – city, county, and the Legislature.
This wasn’t a ‘silencing of political opponents’ – it was enforcing well-established, widely accepted, common sense rules.
Do you really think she has a list of political enemies that she actually looks at and fixates on?
“Bennett, another arrested protester, said he “hates how this country treats immigrants, and that if he were a refugee he’d want people getting arrested for him.”
I know Bennett, we are such assholes to these people. We let them into our country completely undocumented, give them a place to stay, free meals, clothes, smartphones and in the case of NY apparently free credit cards. I apologize on the behalf of everyone that we also didn’t throw in a free Tesla or 3 bedroom house in Broadmoor for them.
@4: “Screaming Children Put In Time-Out By Adults in Room” was the original headline, but got rejected by the Stranger’s style guide for “being entirely too accurate.” 😉
“ In their sweeping condemnation of the protesters, the new conservative council, who had to delay their vote to rename a street, demonstrated their intolerance for the kind of democratic participation that was pretty common before COVID-19, and that former socialist Council Member Kshama Sawant once encouraged.”
And what measurable good did all that performative “participation” do in the end? What city policies that are making a positive change in residents lives were created?
In the end, it should be about making other people’s lives better, not making you feel good.
No, it’s about performance art, @15.
None of them are serious
Sara Nelson sucks. Hannah’s headline sucks more.
@15: All of Sawant’s “pack City Hall” performances existed to drown dissenting voices, whilst manufacturing the illusion of popular support for her policies. It was all just “astroturfing” with fake populist appeal. The Stranger is still falling for it; they are experiencing a long and painful withdrawal from her polarizing performances and disruptive antics.
looks like everyone got what they wanted, except a handful of refugees.
Yay, take them away. The Stranger is a publication of useful idiots.
Even the headline “Police Arrest 6 of Sara Nelson’s Political Enemies…” is completely misleading – intentionally, I suspect. Otherwise, the article is completely biased, ignorant of the City Council meeting process, and poorly written. The writer should stick to chanting.
Hearing the concerns of the community is perfectly compatible with enforcing rules of conduct in a public meeting. Otherwise it’s just rule by the loudest, i.e. an assholigarchy.
“They chanted over her until she called for a five-minute recess at around 2:37 pm. ”
…
“According to eye-witnesses, six protesters stayed in council chambers against the orders of security. Others gathered outside chambers, yelling and pounding on the windows. “
To the protesters: By all means, invite them into your homes. Take care of them. Put your money where your mouth is. Or after doing so, apply for a grant.
It’s going to be a long four years with the fascist Karens running the City Council.
Isn’t dealing with asylum seekers a Federal responsibility? Just asking.
With some actual real life experience, Hannah will someday learn the fallacy of her logic. Six people disrupting city council ( over an issue the council has no control over) does not in fact represent the “community” no matter how you try to spin it in your own head. This willingness to overlook facts and twist oneself in knots defensing positions that are indefensible is right from the MAGA playbook.
Well, gee, imagine if more young people — especially in District 3 — hadn’t decided not to vote this past election. Then maybe things wouldn’t have changed so drastically? Maybe they should spend more time focused on democracy and changing our political system than performative protesting.
Per Wikipedia entry of Horseshoe Theory: In popular discourse, the horseshoe theory asserts that the far-left and the far-right, rather than being at opposite and opposing ends of a linear continuum of the political spectrum, closely resemble each other, analogous to the way that the opposite ends of a horseshoe are close together.