Police harass Seattle Reclaim The Streets rally

Participants in a Reclaim the Streets parade in Seattle, Saturday, Aug. 25, 2001.

Compiled by Sean Marquis

Aug. 29— A loosely organized demonstration for free expression at times turned into violent clashes as police harassed and assaulted protesters for several hours Saturday when a group of about 400 people paraded into downtown Seattle’s retail core flanked by officers in riot gear.

The rally, dubbed Reclaim the Streets (RTS), was mostly peaceful and the majority of protesters kept to sidewalks and obeyed traffic signals. Seattle city officials instructed the police department to break up the street party which began in Denny Park, then wound its way through downtown.

In all, about 18 people were arrested, Assistant Chief Jim Pugel said.

Officers arrested several people for spraying graffiti and breaking a window at a downtown business, he said, and they also issued numerous citations for jaywalking and distributing food without a permit.

Seattle Mayor Paul Schell called the police action “a swift and certain response.” About 100 police officers were called in to keep things from getting out of hand, he said.

“I think the police sent a strong message,” Schell said. “They were prepared and they weren’t going to tolerate any lawlessness. Those who stayed on the sidewalk were allowed to demonstrate, those who didn’t were dealt with appropriately.”

But protesters said police overreacted, and caused much of the problems.

Isak Bressler, a legal observer with the National Lawyers Guild who documented protesters complaints in a notebook, said police “definitely have violated some civil rights today.”

“The police are obviously the aggressors,” said Cynthia Whetsell, who called her fellow protesters “courageous for standing up for their rights.”

Eyewitnesses gave reports of indiscriminate pepper spraying, “targeted” arrests and people pulled off the sidewalk and into the street in order to be arrested for jaywalking.

Protesters began gathering at Denny Park about 5pm, dancing and beating drums, handing out leaflets on various political causes and distributing fingerfoods and bottled water. Some donned carnival masks and had bandannas over their faces; others wore lavish body puppets and painted canvas butterfly wings. They beat drums, blew into flutes, carried signs that railed against corporate globalization and chanted: “Whose Streets? Our Streets!” Police in regular uniforms, some on horseback, others on bicycles, milled on nearby sidewalks.

Free food being served by Food Not Bombs (FNB) was confiscated and dumped by the police and at least one food server was arrested.

When one of the people with FNB was being arrested, Indymedia reporter Joseph Eisenscmidt inquired about the legality of the arrest and the charge of illegally serving food in the park.

“Lieutenant Whelan stated it is only illegal to serve food in Denny Park when he says so,” Eisenscmidt reported.

Later when Eisenscmidt asked an officer Kreuger for his full name and badge number, Kreuger refused and, “he said I would be arrested if I asked him again,” Eisenscmidt said.

After the incidents at the park, the group of about 400 began marching into downtown.

Selective enforcement of generally disregarded jaywalking laws were reportedly then used as a tool to restrict movement and prevent demonstrators from marching.

Just two blocks into the march, police stopped one man and issued a jaywalking ticket. And as the stream of protesters slowly marched toward downtown, a squad of bicycle officers formed lines to halt parts of the large group at street corners when crosswalk signals changed from Walk to Don’t Walk. Doing so, police essentially splintered the large demonstration into several smaller groups.

Seattle police took a hard-nose stance, demonstrating with their actions that jaywalking or a continual parade of protesters crossing streets against traffic lights would be met with force.

While trying to prevent a group from crossing a street against the lights, several officers pulled out pepper spray canisters and doused a half dozen or more people gathered on the corner, leading to a stampede of flailing bodies. Several officers then grabbed at least two men and threw them to the pavement while arresting them.

“My friend was being arrested, so I just tried to get in there to see what was happening,” Lindsey Runyan, 18, said while retching and pouring water into eyes stinging from pepper spray. “They just dragged her away and started spraying everyone.”

Witnesses said the Banana Republic did have a window smashed, but the individual who did it did not appear to be a part of the main group, as the person threw some concrete into the window and ran away, neither coming from nor rejoining the main body of demonstrators.

After some time and aggravation, the groups made it into the downtown area, their spirits still mostly intact.

As they did, protesters intermingled with tourists and shoppers, some of whom looked on bemusedly.

“It looks like a peaceful protest to me,” said Lee Hoeman, 47, who was visiting Seattle for the day. “I only worry when our young people don’t care about anything.”

Karen Katchek 30, said of the rally, “They’re not violent, they’re just trying to express their rights to assemble, and I think the police are displaying far too aggressive behavior.”

As he walked along the meandering protest route through downtown, Stan Wildermuth, 24, explained that the concept of “Reclaim the Streets” rallies around the world is more of an impromptu expression of the right to assemble without having to garner permits or other “overburdensome regulations.”

“Streets have always been the expected, normal place to redress grievances,” he said. “The idea really is the streets belong to everybody, and really, this rally isn’t blocking traffic 99 percent of the time because we’re on the sidewalks.”

Wildermuth, a member of the city’s Community Policing Action Council — a liaison group of citizens, city officials, and cops that seeks to improve communication between the public and police — added that RTS parties are generally “a leaderless protest” made up of a hodge-podge of groups and individuals with like-minded philosophies, such as direct democracy, opposing corporate globalization and police brutality, and other political beliefs.

The Reclaim the Streets philosophy is not new. It’s call for loosely organized street parties have occurred throughout the world — from Prague to Naperville, Ill.

Reclaim The Streets in Kansas

On Friday evening in Lawrence, Kansas a Reclaim The Streets rally had a markedly different tone. Hundreds of revelers marched down to the main street of Lawrence, a U-Haul truck was used to drop off couches that were used to block off both ends of the street, a sound system was set up and a party erupted.

The crowd was very young, consisting mostly of high school and college students.

“We’re doing this so people of all different types can get together in a public space and take something that’s ours without the permission of any authority figures,” said Ailecia Ruscin, a Kansas University graduate student.

Participants used chalk to write anti-sweatshop slogans, drawings and other artwork on the sidewalk and a banner was hung outside of American Eagle Outfitters which read: “A new reality is better than a new product.”

According to eyewitnesses the police kept a watchful eye, but did not intervene.

John Naramore, a Lawrence resident, said, “The police were handling it well. They were in force on the side of the street with the national retailers, but except for working to ensure that anyone who was parked on the block could drive away, they were pretty well leaving everything to happen as it was.”

The mayor of Lawrence commented, “What went on there tonight was a healthy part of our democratic process. When people don’t feel like our system is working, there’s a long history of going outside the box and trying to get attention focused on it.”

Participants got out their message about public use of public space and had a good time while they were doing it.

“There was music, a soccer game, a table with water and drinks, chalk drawings all over and a generally festive atmosphere,” Mr. Naramore said. “At nine 0’clock the trucks came back and picked up the couches, the people picked up their mess, and it was over.”

Sources: Seattle Indymedia, Seattle Post-Intelligencer Lawrence Daily Journal

Texas man gets 6 months probation for killing Mexican migrant worker

Compiled by Sean Marquis

Aug. 29— Mexico objected on Friday to a six-month probation sentence handed down by a Texas court against a Texas rancher convicted of the vigilante killing of a Mexican migrant worker last year.

The court in Eagle Pass, Texas, found Samuel Blackwood, 74, guilty of homicide in the death in May last year of Eusebio de Haro, 22, but ordered him to serve an “inexplicable’’ sentence of 180 days probation, Mexico’s Foreign Relations Ministry said in a statement.

“For the Mexican government, it is unacceptable that a justice system can allow that a person proved to have taken the life of another by shooting him in the back not receive the severe punishment merited,’’ the ministry said.

Blackwood was convicted of pursuing and firing on De Haro and another migrant after the two crossed the border illegally and stopped at Blackwood’s ranch to ask for food and water. De Haro bled to death after being shot in the back of the leg, and the incident became a flashpoint for border tensions involving illegal migrants and ranchers.

Blackwood, convicted of a misdemeanor deadly conduct charge in the shooting death, was also fined $4,000 and was ordered to pay restitution for the emergency care, autopsy and funeral of Eusebio De Haro.

All six jurors declined to comment on their verdicts, but after their dismissal, some jurors stopped to share hugs and shed tears with Blackwood family members and friends.

Jurors rejected defense claims that Blackwood acted in self defense against two aggressive wayfaring immigrants.

In convicting Blackwood, the jury concluded that he placed De Haro in immediate danger of seriously bodily injury by firing a gun in his direction. The prosecution didn’t allege that Blackwood intended to slay De Haro, but it contested his self defense claim, relying largely on a coroner’s finding that the victim was hit square in the back of the thigh and bled to death.

The prosecutor convinced jurors there was no credible evidence that Blackwood and his wife, Brenda, were threatened by the pair of immigrants who stood about 50 feet from their door and asked for water before being told to leave.

The jurors also rejected the couple’s claims that the two men threatened them in a second encounter a quarter mile down a ranch road, where the Blackwoods had followed the immigrants. Brenda Blackwood testified the two unarmed Mexicans charged toward her and her husband, but that story conflicted with the coroner’s report.

George Shaffer, an attorney who served as a consultant to the Mexican consulate in San Antonio that monitored the proceedings, said the verdicts were “an important signal to other people of this country that there are consequences for conduct that involves lawlessness.”

The Mexican government is supporting De Haro’s family in a pending civil suit against Blackwood.

Sources: Houston Chronicle, Reuters

‘Ocean Warrior’ seizes illegal fishing vessels off Costa Rica

The 'Ocean Warrior.'

Compiled by Sean Marquis

Aug. 29— With rangers from Cocos Island National Park joining its volunteer crew, the flagship of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society on Monday seized a large trawler and seven support boats illegally fishing within the Park.

With Captain Paul Watson at the helm, the Ocean Warrior captured the mother ship San Jose, out of Manta, Ecuador, and seven of its tenders — small boats that were supplying the main vessel. The boats were targeting sharks using long lines, a fishing method notorious for hooking and drowning turtles, rays and sea birds as well as their target catch.

All boats were apprehended fishing within eight miles of Cocos Island. Fishing within 14 miles of the uninhabited island is prohibited.

As of late Monday afternoon, 50 kilometers of illegal long lines had been hauled up and confiscated from the boats.

“The National Park asked us for help because their boats are too small to go up against the poachers’ main ships,” said Captain Watson.

“They were caught in the act. As we boarded the last boat, the fishermen were throwing hammerheads overboard,” Watson said.

Shark fins can sell for more than US$30 a pound at the dock in Asian markets.

The waters around Cocos are considered one of the world’s premiere dive sites, thronging with sea turtles, whales, dolphins, seven species of shark, and more than 300 fish species.

The Friends of Cocos Island Foundation, a non-profit Costa Rican conservation group, has identified long line fishing as the primary threat to the marine wildlife of the island.

Ecuadorian Navy seizes ship

While taking on supplies on August 27, the Ocean Warrior was seized by the Ecuadorian Navy in the Galapagos Islands.

There are two Navy vessels on scene, one armed with Exocet ship destroying missiles. Two Navy guards have been placed on board the Ocean Warrior. The Ocean Warrior has not been allowed to refuel. The Ecuadorian Navy is preventing anyone from getting on or off the ship.

“They are basically saying ‘your papers are not in order,’” said Ocean Warrior Captain Paul Watson, founder of the California based marine conservation organization.

“On Friday, they told us we would have to leave in 48 hours. Over the weekend, they put the vessel and our international crew under virtual house arrest. The mayor of Puerto Ayora, the people of the city and the National Park Service, have expressed their full support for Sea Shepherd.”

Ocean Warrior went to the Galapagos to re-supply the Society’s patrol vessel Sirenian, which has been assisting the National Park Service in policing the Galapagos Marine Reserve since last March. In that time, Sirenian has seized seven commercial vessels caught in the marine reserve.

Last November, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society signed a joint agreement with the Galapagos National Park to defend the Galapagos Marine Reserve from poaching.

Sea Shepherd’s patrol vessel Sirenian collected donations of cash and equipment en route from the United States to Ecuador to help compensate the park for an estimated $30,000 in computer and communications gear lost when fishermen ransacked park offices demanding a higher fishing quota.

Sea Shepherd has been outspoken in its criticism of the close ties of the Ecuadorian Navy and Merchant Marine to Ecuador’s powerful commercial fishing sector. Sea Shepherd personnel have been openly critical of the Ecuadorian practice of releasing vessels apprehended fishing illegally in the Marine Reserve without charge or fine.

Sean O’Hearn Gimenez, marine conservation officer for Sea Shepherd International, has been aboard the Sirenian in the Galapagos since March.

On May 30, he reported that 18 boats fishing illegally had been captured within the Galapagos Marine Reserve since January 1, 2001. However, many have been released, says O’Hearn.

“The Sirenian has captured four boats in less then three weeks. Three of them have been released and the remaining one is about to be released after having been caught red-handed illegally shark finning within the Galapagos Marine Reserve,” O’Hearn said.

O’Hearn says the ships and their illegal cargoes of shark fins are being released because of economics.

“There are huge economic interests involved which are influencing people from judges, port captains, admirals and even the minister of the environment, who recently resigned,” he says.

The Galapagos consists of 13 major islands, 17 smaller islands and more than 40 rocks covering an area of 3,100 square miles. Ninety percent of the land surface and the entire ocean area are incorporated into the Galapagos National Park.

The Galapagos Marine Reserve, which covers a larger area surrounding the island group, is scheduled to be listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site at the World Heritage Committee’s upcoming meeting later this year.

Source: ENS, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society www.seashepherd.org