Seattle, 22:00 Wed 2 Dec 1999

[Donald Galt]

On 2 Dec 99, at 10:42, Carl Zager wrote:

> I would hate to hear that [Seattle's trolleys], too (like the "planned"
> demonstrations), had become a victim of the hooligans. I heard a radio
> interview with one of the folks who was breaking windows. He didn't even
> know what the situation was. Just an opportunity to be a jerk. 

It has been a strange week, but reports of rioting have been exaggerated. 
The trolley system is up and running, though with extensive reroutings to 
the lines which normally pass the Convention Center.

The planned demonstrations on Tuesday took place without incident. Later 
that day there was some violence that caught the police by surprise, with 
significant but limited damage to shops downtown - mostly graffiti and 
broken glass. Judging from the TV clips, the looting of a Radio Shack store 
was accomplished by our own homegrown punks, but the the violence 
would appear have been instigated by an anarchist group from Eugene OR. I 
think the cops may have some explaining to do about how these guys were 
allowed to roam unchecked.

Confrontations on Capitol Hill - outside the curfew area - on Tuesday and 
Wednesday nights have been nasty, and it may well turn out that the police 
over-reacted. But there have not been major injuries or property damage. 
Trolleys on routes 7, 9 and 43 were seen last night under unfamiliar wire, 
avoiding the conflict zone on Broadway.

My prediction is that both authorities and protesters are going to come out 
of this tarnished. But so far the city is still standing. The biggest losers are 
downtown merchants, who have seen the Christmas shopping crowds 
dwindle to a trickle.

Don