(Image from the Capitol Hill Seattle Facebook Group showing SPD making arrests on E Olive Way)
Seattle’s May Day march for workers and immigrant rights was a much smaller event in 2021 due to the pandemic
Multiple arrests on Capitol Hill and as protesters gathered late in the day in Cal Anderson Park overshadowed Seattle’s annual May Day march for worker and immigrant rights.
CHS reported here on the 2021 march that stepped off from the Central District around noon Saturday in an effort organizers said was part a push for worker rights along with “Health Care, Inclusive Immigration Reform, Public Safety Reform, Homelessness, Housing and Jobs.” “For us to make considerable gains we must ensure the right to organize,” organizers from El Comite wrote.
A few hundred people were part of the main march — a much smaller crowd under continuing pandemic restrictions. Meanwhile, the day was also busy with several other marches and demonstrations crossing the city and Capitol Hill including a protest calling for the end of war atrocities in the Tigray region of Ethiopia where a conflict continues to grow and groups of antifa protesters.
The city said Friday “unrestricted events” like marches can’t adequately be controlled for the number of participants and social distancing so it did not issue permits and was not officially closing streets or providing planned Seattle Police “First Amendment support” for May Day demonstrations but a spokesperson said City Hall is aware of “multiple events” planned to take place over the weekend.
Protests away from the march remain a concern for city officials and large global chains that are frequently targeted like Starbucks and Nike after past clashes spiraled into riots as police moved in on crowds over property damage and to clear streets. The city has been mostly quiet following the large march in recent years. But in 2016, clashes in downtown, Belltown, Pioneer Square marred the day while 2015 marked the last time May Day protests, property damage, and Seattle Police crowd control efforts were centered on Capitol Hill.
Saturday, a anti-capitalist and anti-cop group dressed in “black bloc” marched on Broadway and became embroiled with law enforcement just before 2 PM after a large contingent of police responded and moved on the crowd outside the E Olive Way Starbucks following reports of property damage.
Police reported two arrests. CHS confirmed that at least two employees of Glo’s across the street from the scene were taken into custody during the chaos. A picture from a resident near the scene showed E Olive Way filled with police as people were being taken into custody and a crowd including Glo’s employees looked on. It’s not clear if the employees were the two people SPD said had been detained or if there were additional arrests.
Video posted by SPD showed police continuing to follow the group after the E Olive Way arrests.
Officers have issued a public safety order to this group, which has continued to place hazards in the roadway. Police are making an arrest at 7/Olive. #MayDaySea https://t.co/i22eIY8kB1 pic.twitter.com/G4HwDrJ4h2
— Seattle Police Dept. (@SeattlePD) May 1, 2021
As the main march ended its route downtown, a black bloc group was reported marching up from Denny back to Capitol Hill where a series of clashes with police followed as well as multiple arrests reported in Cal Anderson.
Around 4:30 PM, police reported the crowd at Broadway and Pine throwing bottles, rocks, and paint at officers and said that a dispersal order was announced as two more arrests were made.
Police said the crowd threw “flares, bottles, eggs, paint and a bag of unidentified liquid” at officers and a passenger in a vehicle on Denny threw a bottle through the open window of an SPD vehicle, striking the driver. SPD said that person was also arrested along with four more in the Cal Anderson chaos that followed after police moved on marchers as they gathered in the park after marching through the city.
The clashes were well away from the East Precinct at 12th and Pine where crews this week installed a new, tall, black fence rising outside Capitol HIll’s East Precinct behind the concrete barrier installed last summer after CHOP. The building was briefly locked down during the afternoon and early evening arrests.
Handful of arrests in Cal Anderson this May Day afternoon. pic.twitter.com/Dy186E1gU8
— matt (@mmitgang) May 2, 2021
As of early evening, SPD reported eight arrests across Capitol Hill, the bottle thrower on Denny, and at least one more downtown. Jail records showed one person booked for investigation of assault, four for obstruction, and one more for pedestrian interference.
A Seattle Fire aid unit was called to the East Precinct just after 5 PM for a person with a non life-threatening injury. We don’t know if it is related to the protest arrests.
Meanwhile, marching and protest was continuing into the night as the city warned drivers to avoid the area around 11th and Pine where a crowd was gathering.
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Seattle May Day 2021: Multiple arrests on Capitol Hill and a smaller workers rights march under pandemic restrictions - CHS Capitol Hill Seattle News
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