Editing 1999 Seattle WTO protests (section)

==N30==
[[File:WTO Protests-Seattle-Marchers-29Nov1999.jpg|thumb|Protesters march against the World Trade Organization, Seattle, November 29, 1999.]]
On the morning of Tuesday, November 30, 1999, the DAN's plan was put into effect. Several hundred activists arrived in the deserted streets near the convention center and began to take control of key intersections. Over the next few hours, a number of marchers began to converge on the area from different directions. These included a student march from the north, a march of citizens of the developing world who marched in from the south and, beginning around 09:00, militant anarchists (in a formation known as a [[black bloc]]) marching down Pike Street from 6th Avenue, blockading the streets with newspaper boxes and smashing windows.<ref name="depts.washington.edu">{{cite web|url=http://depts.washington.edu/wtohist/day2.htm|title=Day 2: November 30, 1999|website=depts.washington.edu|access-date=November 19, 2013|archive-date=September 24, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130924070731/http://depts.washington.edu/wtohist/day2.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> Some demonstrators held rallies, others held teach-ins and at least one group staged an early-morning street party. Meanwhile, a number of protesters still controlled the intersections using lockdown formations.[[File:WTO protests.jpg|thumb|Seattle police on Union Street, during the protests]]
That morning, the [[King County Sheriff's Office]] and [[Seattle Police Department]] fired [[pepper spray]], [[tear gas]] canisters, and [[stun grenade]]s<ref name="BBC12299">{{cite news|last1=Reynolds|first1=Paul|title=Eyewitness: The Battle of Seattle|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/547581.stm|access-date=April 4, 2017|work=BBC News|date=December 2, 1999|archive-date=April 4, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170404131844/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/547581.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> at protesters at several intersections in an attempt to reopen the blocked streets and allow as many WTO delegates as possible through the blockade.<ref>Seattle Police Department, After-Action Report, pp. 39–40<br />Draft King Country Sheriff's Office Final Report, II.H.2.<br />WTO Accountability Review Committee, ''Combined Timeline of Events During the WTO Ministerial, 1999'', Tuesday, Nov. 30: 9:09&nbsp;am & 10 am.<br />A recording of the Seattle Police Department radio channel command-5 is also available, but has a gap from 0836 to 0840.<br />Highleyman, Liz, ''Scenes from the Battle of Seattle''.<br />St. Clair, Jeffrey, ''Seattle Diary''.<br />Gillham, Patrick F., and Marx, Gary T., ''Complexity and Irony in Policing: The World Trade Organization in Seattle''.<br />de Armond, Paul, ''Netwar in the Emerald City: WTO Protest Strategy and Tactics'', pp. 216–217.</ref>  At 6th Avenue and Union Street, the crowd threw objects back at the police.<ref name="HL2142">{{cite web|last1=Oldham|first1=Kit|last2=Wilma|first2=David|title=Essay 2142|url=http://www.historylink.org/File/2142|website=HistoryLink.org|access-date=April 4, 2017|date=October 20, 2009|archive-date=April 4, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170404131150/http://www.historylink.org/File/2142|url-status=live}}</ref>

By late morning, the black bloc had swelled to 200 people and smashed dozens of shops and police cars. This seems to have set off a chain reaction of sorts, with previously nonviolent protesters throwing bottles at police and joining in the vandalism shortly before noon.<ref name="depts.washington.edu"/>

The police were eventually overwhelmed by the mass of protesters downtown, including many who had chained themselves together and were blocking intersections. Meanwhile, the late-morning labor-organized rally and march drew tens of thousands; though the intended march route had them turning back before they reached the convention center, some ignored the marshals and joined what had become a chaotic scene downtown.

At noon, the opening ceremony at the convention center was officially canceled.<ref name="depts.washington.edu"/>  It took police much of the afternoon and evening to clear the streets. Seattle mayor [[Paul Schell]] declared a state of emergency, imposed a [[curfew]], and a 50-block "no-protest zone."

=== December 1 ===

Overnight, the [[governor]] of [[Washington (state)|Washington]], [[Gary Locke]], called in two [[battalion]]s of [[Washington Army National Guard|Army National Guardsmen]], other law enforcement agencies sent support, and before daylight on Wednesday, troops and officers lined the perimeter of the no-protest zone. Police surrounded and arrested several groups of would-be protesters (and more than one bystander).  Beginning at 21:00, a major clash took place on Broadway in the vicinity of Denny Way, involving rocks, bottles, and police concussion grenades.  It did not involve a black bloc, but appears to have included local residents, although it is known that many local residents were treated as protesters, even being teargassed, despite having no part in the protests. Police called in from other cities mistook the typically crowded streets of Capitol Hill as groups of protesters.<ref>[https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19991205/2999667/monday-nov-29 Alex Tizon, "Monday, Nov. 29 – Saturday, Dec. 4: WTO Week" ''Seattle Times'', December 5, 1999] ;</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://depts.washington.edu/wtohist/day3.htm|title=Day 3: December 1, 1999|website=depts.washington.edu|access-date=November 22, 2013|archive-date=May 9, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130509051722/http://depts.washington.edu/wtohist/day3.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> More than 500 people were jailed on Wednesday. Throughout the day, police used tear gas to disperse crowds downtown, although a permitted demonstration organized by the Steelworkers Union was held along the waterfront.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=9213|title=WTO Meeting and Protests in Seattle (1999) -- Part 2 - HistoryLink.org|website=www.historylink.org|access-date=November 10, 2012|archive-date=October 26, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121026065745/http://historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=9213|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:National Guard, Downtown Seattle, WTO 1999.jpg|thumbnail|left|Army National Guardsmen marching to their next assignment]]

=== December 2–3 ===

Protests continued the following days. Thousands demonstrated outside the Seattle Police Department protesting their tactics and arrests of peaceful protestors. President Clinton arrived and attended the conference. On December 3 the conference ended as delegations were unable to reach agreements, partly in response to the protests.<ref>{{Citation|title=Four Days in Seattle The 1999 WTO Riots plus news stories one week later| date=May 2, 2013 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFamvR9CpYw| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211118/pFamvR9CpYw| archive-date=2021-11-18 | url-status=live|publisher=KIRO7|language=en|access-date=2019-12-07}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/special_report/1999/11/99/battle_for_free_trade/544769.stm|title=BBC News {{!}} BATTLE FOR FREE TRADE {{!}} Seattle trade talks timeline|website=news.bbc.co.uk|access-date=2019-12-07|archive-date=December 7, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191207050333/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/special_report/1999/11/99/battle_for_free_trade/544769.stm|url-status=live}}</ref>
Confrontations with the police continued, albeit at a lower intensity. The primary goal of disrupting the trade talks achieved, some sought the horizons of possibility; it was determined quickly that the necessary ambition to achieve the broader goals of various anarchist factions was not sufficient.<ref>{{Citation|title=Breaking the Spell|url=https://crimethinc.com/videos/breaking-the-spell|access-date=2022-01-10|archive-date=January 11, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220111045653/https://crimethinc.com/videos/breaking-the-spell|url-status=live}}</ref>