Mediaboss Marketing

(Image: Matt Mitgang with permission to CHS)

Late Thursday night, the Seattle Police Department rolled into groups of protesters after demonstrators set fire to a roadblock ring of debris and trash blocking the 12th and Pine intersection in front of the departments East Precinct. Live streams, protesters, and residents reported several arrests including at least one journalist.

Pepper bomb explosions echoed across Capitol Hill again like clockwork.

A second more aggressive volley of police crowd control explosives banged through the night beginning just after midnight as witnesses said police were responding to property damage to buildings in the area including busted windows at store and restaurant fronts near 12th and Pine. The property damage was not limited to anti-police protesters. The owner of a nearby brewery reported a police explosives blast heavily damaged the patio of the business as SPD pushed demonstrators north on 12th Ave and then pursued them into Cal Anderson.

SPD deployed such a volume of munitions that shrapnel could be seen littering 12th Ave after the melee as police locked down the perimeter around the precinct and at least one wholly intact bomb was found in the midst of the litter.

BECOME A 'PAY WHAT YOU CAN' CHS SUBSCRIBER TODAY: Support local journalism dedicated to your neighborhood. SUBSCRIBE HERE. Jointo become a subscriber at$1/$5/$10 a monthto help CHS provide community news withNO PAYWALL. You can also sign up fora one-time annual payment.

Thursdays overnight clash followed protests across Capitol Hill, Seattle, and the country Wednesday night demonstrating against injustice in the Breonna Taylor police killing, and another small clash Tuesday night following the Seattle City Councils vote to override Mayor Jenny Durkans vetoes of police budget cuts.

In Wednesdays clash, marked by the disturbing images of a cop rolling his bike over a prone demonstrator and a protester striking an officer in the helmet with a baseball bat, police and demonstrators reported 13 people were taken into custody in Seattles protests, mostly on Capitol Hill.

(Image: Matt Mitgang with permission to CHS)

There was no immediate tally for Thursdays counts.

Seattle Polices Twitter account, unlike the night before when it provided a useful play by play including announcements of dispersal demands and, eventually, the declaration of an unlawful assembly, remained silent through early Friday morning. Announcements, many unintelligible, were reported being delivered by voice and loudspeaker at street level by commanding officers. The precincts new public address system, added when the city constructed a large concrete wall around the facility, did not appear to be utilized.

Video streams showed what appeared to be several people taken into custody. Omari Salisburys Converge Media reported that one of its journalists had been arrested. Video of the arrest showed Bobby Stills identifying himself as media as he was being held down by police and cuffed before being carted away to the waiting prisoner van.

Overnight jail records show one person booked for obstruction, two for failure to disperse, and at least four people for both. Another was booked for investigation of possession of an incendiary device. Meanwhile, it was not clear from records if Stills was jailed or released without being booked.

After gathering in Cal Anderson starting around 9 PM, a group of a few hundred demonstrators began a march through the neighborhoods with police trailing the procession. As groups did the night previous, the demonstration arrived near the East Precinct. This time, some in the crowds began gathering debris and objects to build a ringed roadblock around the intersection of 12th and Pine. When the first flames appeared, the ranks of observing SPD bike officers began to build on 12th Ave before the first flash bang was thrown and the crowds of police moved in. Seattle Fire later responded down the block from the nearby Fire Station 25.

Later after the second clash after midnight cleared out most of the remaining demonstrators, a contingent of bike police continued to hold down the area in front of the East Precinct. Unlike the previous nights this week when police sirens wailed through the neighborhood, residents reported a new sound from the officers keeping watch on a dozen or so remaining protesters as bike bells chimed through the night.

(Image: Matt Mitgang with permission to CHS)

BECOME A 'PAY WHAT YOU CAN' CHS SUBSCRIBER TODAY: Support local journalism dedicated to your neighborhood. SUBSCRIBE HERE. Jointo become a subscriber at$1/$5/$10 a monthto help CHS provide community news withNO PAYWALL. You can also sign up fora one-time annual payment.

Originally posted here:
Another night of anti-police protest on Capitol Hill ends in 'crowd control' pepper bomb explosions, arrests - CHS Capitol Hill Seattle News