Expansionary Institute

Michael Zey
futurist3000@aol.com

By REBECCA COOK
.c The Associated Press

 
SEATTLE (AP) - The police chief defended his officers Friday for cracking down on demonstrators who marked the first anniversary of the World Trade Organization riots with more violence.

When some 200 demonstrators refused to disperse Thursday night, police in riot gear used pepper spray against the downtown crowd. In all, 140 people were arrested.

``They were people bent on causing a problem,'' Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske said.

Police said they were provoked by a number of people who threw rocks and bottles and refused to get out of city streets.

``Police did issue three orders to disperse the crowd blocking the street, three separate orders to disperse,'' city spokesman Larry Vogel said. ``And then they moved the crowd.''

Five of those arrested were being held on felony charges. Among them was a man being investigated for allegedly throwing a marble or ball bearing that struck a police captain in the eye.

At a briefing, police displayed several weapons they said were seized from demonstrators, including knives, a pellet gun that resembled a revolver and a placard mounted on a baseball bat.

The scene Thursday night was not as chaotic as last year, when 50,000 protesters crammed into downtown and shut down WTO sessions as police fired tear gas and rubber bullets. There were some 600 arrests and $3 million in property damage. Police Chief Norm Stamper later retired, criticized as ineffective by some and too aggressive by others.

The latest disturbances followed a day of peaceful rallies by some 2,000 people. The WTO has been the target of protesters who want to make corporations more answerable to local communities and give debt relief to poor countries.

By nightfall, the crowd had dwindled but tension had increased.

Police said some in the crowd tried to occupy an intersection, leading to a clash. Other observers said police did not give people a chance to get out of the way.

``They pushed us down the street and ultimately blocked us in,'' said Legrand Jones, a legal observer who was arrested. ``They ordered us to disperse, but there was nowhere for us to disperse.''

The police chief said that his officers were ``very patient'' and that about an hour passed between the first order to disperse and the arrests.

Gene Johnson, an Associated Press reporter who was arrested with the protesters, said a police lieutenant ordered protesters several times to leave, but they were hemmed in on four sides by police. Johnson was released after being charged with pedestrian interference and failure to disperse.

In a statement, the Committee for Local Government Accountability, a local watchdog group, said it regretted the injury to the police officer, but ``the behavior of one individual whose actions are not supported by the marchers does not justify a complete crackdown on the entire demonstration.''

On the Net:

Seattle Community Network: www.scn.org/wtocal

Community Action Network: www.seattlecan.org/can/n30.asp

Seattle Police Department: www.ci.seattle.wa.us

AP-NY-12-01-00 1551EST

Copyright 2000 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.