A jury has found the city of Seattle liable for the unlawful arrests of roughly 175 protesters during the 1999 World Trade Organization meeting, which attracted 50,000 activists. The demonstrators in question were arrested while sitting and singing in a “no protest” park.
New York Times:
“The key point, the lesson learned, is you cannot arrest peaceful protesters here in Seattle or anywhere else in the country,” said Kenneth Hankin, a Boeing Company employee and the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit.
The trial stemmed from the arrest of Mr. Hankin and the other protesters on Dec. 1, 1999, at a downtown park, where they were sitting and singing patriotic songs. At the time, 50,000 demonstrators had swarmed into Seattle, overwhelming the police and closing down parts of the W.T.O. meeting.
The park was in a “no protest” zone established by the mayor, but officers made no effort to determine whether the protesters had other legitimate reasons to be there before making the arrests, the jury decided.
In a pretrial ruling, Judge Marsha J. Pechman of Federal District Court ruled that the city had made the arrests without probable cause. Arrest reports had not been filled out properly, Judge Pechman noted.
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Jump to Comments
By Chaseme, February 3, 2007 at 8:03 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
Does anyone know how this might affect those who lost their teaching jobs, because the police videotaped them being cuffed and hauled off to jail?
How about those who were peppered sprayed while suffering from asthma and had to be hospitalized, who pays the medical bills?
What about those people who were continuously targeted long after the WTO? Does the harassment of those people by the Seattle police stop and will they be able to participate in rallies without the fear of being arrested again and again?
Will Paul Schell (mayor of Seattle at the time) be brought up on charges for his role and destructive orders for the Seattle police to carry out?
And how about the Port of Seattle, an organization headed by the highest paid Port CEO on the planet, with only a high school diploma, and their role in wooing the WTO to Seattle, do you think this high school graduate could make an intelligent enough decision to thwart the injustice that took place? Will he have to answer for the Port’s role in this?
Is this verdict the beginning or the end to real justice?
Report thisBy Roy, February 3, 2007 at 3:34 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
Those cops are guilty of hundreds of counts of false arrest, kidnapping, and filing false police reports. How soon are their trials, I wonder.
Just kidding. The cops are always above the law.
Report thisBy Stephen Smoliar, February 3, 2007 at 8:29 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
As the media like to put it, this could have a “chilling effect” on cities stepping up to host WTO meetings (and not just in the United States). If WTO members discovered that they could not longer use their meetings as excuses for global junkets, could that provide them with an incentive to think about what they are doing? Could they be reflective enough to recognize that they are contributing more to problems than to solutions? I doubt it, but it is still nice to dream every now and then!
Report thisBy Big Al, February 2, 2007 at 11:43 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
This is incredibly important. Perhaps we can reverse the appalling decline in respect in this country for the first amendment right to free political speech and expression.
Report thisBy vet240, February 2, 2007 at 9:24 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
Thank God there are still some Judges who find for the Constitution. Perhaps Gonzales will decide to re-structure her court as well.
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