Thousands gathered at the Seattle Center in the shadow of the Space Needle this weekend as protesters joined in Saturday’s nationwide “Hands Off” demonstrations in cities large and small across the country.
The Seattle protest was as much rally as demonstration and there were no reports of issues with police or arrests. It continues a string of demonstrations in the city including federal workers bringing the issues around the Trump administration’s attempts to gut resources like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to Montlake Blvd.
A burst of political vandalism against Tesla vehicles in a backlash against company CEO Elon Musk and frustration around Department of Government Efficiency cuts that included fires and damage in Seattle and on Capitol Hill has quieted. CHS reported here on the FBI investigation into an arson fire that damaged a 2022 Model S parked near the busy restaurants and bars of Capitol Hill’s 15th Ave E in March.
Protests against the administration will undoubtedly continue. Capitol Hill and its Cal Anderson Park, often a center of activity in the city’s demonstrations and protests, has hosted several efforts since Donald Trump returned to the White House in January.
Seattle’s leaders including Mayor Bruce Harrell are walking a fine line standing up for civil rights while also staying out of MAGA crosshairs. CHS reported here on the latest strange twist in the politics as Harrell and City Councilmember Rob Saka applauded the passage of a resolution declaring the so-called “defund movement” a failure in Seattle.
The city’s parks department, meawhile, is considering a new memorial in Cal Anderson to mark the Black Lives Matter protests in Seattle in a neighborhood still raw from the CHOP occupied protest zone and the months of protests and clashes with police that followed its June 2020 clearance.
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Trended way old. Pretty neolibbed up… leftists skipped and I’m glad. Let the libs do their Dem sponsored parade thing while we do more direct action.
I try to give a nod to anyone that shakes a leg but the entire form of this protest just seems a little too ‘this is a party rally that doesn’t call itself as such’ because of shit like asking for RSVPs, willingness to call the cops in for scofflaws amongst the protest, and any number of small little things that you’d do for a corpo event.
Like, really hope this was more than checking off a performative/transaction box like the Woman’s March in 2017, but the validation is probably not something that resembles this many more times.
I bet brunch places were slammed in Queen Anne on Saturday.