Hella Nation - Evan Wright [40]
But before sunrise several hundred nonviolent protesters began to take up positions along Pike and Union, near the convention center. Hundreds of police were already on hand—including specially equipped riot police (whose most psychologically imposing weapon was a black, armored personnel carrier, nicknamed the “Peace Keeper” and adorned with an inspirational slogan printed alongside the rear hatch: “Move fast, kick ass”). Though nonviolent, the protesters implemented a highly aggressive form of civil disobedience. As delegates’ limousines attempted to drive toward the convention center, protesters formed human barricades on the streets, locking their arms together, with some chaining themselves to fences and lamp-posts. By nine in the morning, tens of thousands of demonstrators paraded into the area from other locations in the city. These included students and environmentalists in fanciful costumes, as well as thousands of blue-collar, vaguely biker-looking Teamsters and steelworkers. The city center was impassable to vehicle traffic. The police were isolated in small groups, pushed back along the sidewalks by the sea of protesters, or clustered around a handful of black SWAT vans parked in the streets.
Despite my not getting the story assignment from Rolling Stone, I showed up anyway. For several blocks in all directions from the convention center, the city had the feel of a Mardi Gras celebration. There were Mother Earth floats, stilt-walkers, puppeteers, jugglers, bands of marching drummers, hippies with flutes and, of course, hundreds of people costumed as sea turtles and endangered owls. Many chanted, “This is what democracy looks like,” whenever cops or people in suits or news camera crews stopped to look at them or take pictures. A flock of nude women who called themselves the Avenging Lesbians of Seattle ran about. The most hard-core nonviolent demonstrators, those who used U-shaped bicycle locks to pin their necks to light posts, grinned like freak-show performers. Teamsters interrupted the democracy chants by rolling in trucks that blared reggae and R&B tunes. In one episode I witnessed, several cops handed protesters bags of M&M’s. Down the street a WTO delegate from an African country grabbed a bullhorn from a demonstrator and gave an impromptu speech denouncing globalization.
Late in the morning, after the WTO’s opening ceremonies had to be scuttled due to the inability of delegates to enter the convention hall, the authorities decided they had had enough. Riot police formed several phalanxes and moved toward the main human blockade at Sixth and Union. They initiated their assault by lobbing explosive tear gas canisters, concussion grenades and pepper spray bombs into the crowd. (Police later gave conflicting accounts about which type of irritant they initially used on the crowd, pepper spray or tear gas.) In any case, their attack coincided with a crescendo of explosions (characteristic of tear gas canisters) and stroboscobic flashes (characteristic of concussion grenades), and a fog of noxious, stinging air rose from the intersection. The most committed protesters dropped to the pavement and linked arms, forming dense human pileups called “lockdowns.” Witnesses reported that at about this time several cops standing on the roof of a van opened fire on the lockdowns, spraying the demonstrators with “rubber bullets”—solid polyester projectiles the size of gum balls. (Police later gave contradictory reports as to whether