Solidarity Noise Demonstration Ends in at least 15 Arrests

Sun, 07/24/2011 - 1:23am

Tonight at about 10:45, between 30 and 40 anarchists gathered outside the downtown jail for a noise demonstration in solidarity with the six still in jail from last night's arrests. (One of the seven arrested has been released.)

The noise demonstration proceeded around the jail for about 15 minutes.

At this point, cop cars came from all directions, including undercover cars and canine units. The demonstration attempted to disperse, but many people were chased down. At least fifteen people were arrested, and five more were detained and released.

This is a call for all kinds of solidarity acts--including an appeal for funds. Those who are not currently in jail need help to bail out and provide further legal support for their friends and comrades.

Paypal: seattlelegaldefense@gmail.com

Comments

Zettel

Tonight at about 10:45, between 30 and 40 anarchists gathered outside the downtown jail for a noise demonstration in solidarity with the six still in jail from last night's arrests. (One of the seven arrested has been released.)

Is there a story about the seven individuals arrested? I didn't see anything about arrests on this website but perhaps I missed it. I have no idea what action/event this refers to.

Lake Desire

Is there any way to loan money to bail instead of donating? Since people tend to get their bail money back when they show up to court, right?

maps

I believe that anyone that throws in toward bail money can request that their money be returned once we start getting it back from the court. Donations without a request that it be paid back would be put toward legal fees, future arrests, etc.

Email seattlelegaldefense@gmail.com to coordinate.

brer

yes. we are keeping stock of who is donating what so that we can return money once bail is exonerated, if necessary.

Baubo

I tried to place a "donate" button that links to the seattle legal defense fund, however it won't show up, I assume it has to do with using non-approved html. Is there a way to get around this?

brer

15 of 19 people arrested at the noise demo are out! thanks to everyone who has pitched in so far; we still have 6 folks arrested on felonies to be arraigned tomorrow.

.

Would the people charged with felonies like people to show up for support?

brer

they're set to be arraigned at 2:30 in the king county jail courtroom, which is on the first floor of the jail, just past the metal detectors. if you have out-of-state ID or an address 50 miles from the jail, you can also visit them at any time, or check with the jail for their set visiting hours.

k

Everyone is out of jail! Further updates soon.

June

unless I'm missing something, there is almost zero coverage of this in any local newspapers or TV. KIRO has previously covered incidents like graffiti on a bank window in the U district, so maybe they didn't even hear about this.
Personally, I suspect they opted into detaining so many people for 1st amendment protected activities in order to get their names. Charges for resisting arrest or whatever won't hold.
Regardless of the history of civil disobedience in this country that we all watch in schools, it can be a good approach to avoid political arrests because they are more of a hassle for the individual than for the city.

DrewHendricks

From what I gather, these arrests were the Seattle PD using the "Kettle" to sweep in and surround a noise demonstration, for exactly what you wrote it was - to get the names. Olympia PD did this to Anti-police anarchist marches on January 16, 2009 and April 10, 2010, and in the latter case falsely accused some participants with felonies. The context of seven house party related arrests which disrupted an anarchist debate, and then this set of arrests which targeted persons in solidarity with those persons, tells me everything I need to know about how much opportunity folks DIDN'T get to disperse before they were swept up.
An even greater danger for those captured in the past few days is the random targeting these same folks will see over the next two years or so (which might sweep some new names). The best defense is to avoid being in cars attached to the names of those captured, avoid the housing situations where folks listed their presence when they filled out paperwork in jail, and establish a different pattern of movement and travel than the intelligence taken from this recent series of arrests would tend to suggest to police. Swap cars, think strategically, and become ghosts for a while. The whole region's police are very interested and very proactive right now. Don't wear a tag for them. Switch cell phones and carriers, if you can. Be safe, but don't pretend that you have the choice to become inactive. None of us have that choice, really. The experience we have in Olympia shows us that Oly PMR participants are still being targeted in the present, despite their last action happening in November, 2007.

Olympia Copwatcher
360-870-3127
360-464-1108 Skype

brer

Without being at the party or noise demonstration, and presumably without knowing people who were there, please don't speculate about what tactics police did or did not use to arrest people. Implying that those arrested this weekend are now essentially tainted and should be avoided is not only offensive - it is just plain fucking stupid.

Noone needs your backhanded "solidarity" now, or ever.

DrewHendricks

I gathered the news like any other reader; I relied on the first hand accounts here and elsewhere, and put no words into anyone's mouth. I put the arrests into a larger context which is regional, so that folks who thought of this as "just a few house party arrests" would know that it looks far more targeted than that. I doubt that anyone arrested is confused in that way, only a few people who posted comments to the story have that confusion.

If you think I asked that people AVOID the arrested folks, I'm sorry that I left that impression. What I was trying to communicate is that the police are going to use a series of BS arrests to collect intel on who is in resistance, and it's important that serious anarchists take that into consideration when they travel and associate. You know they don't respect your right to associate, so why pretend that they will? Why endanger your friends and allies without their consent? Discuss your risk factors. It's not that difficult - you do this when you get with a new partner, right?

It's rather presumptive to assume that no one else needs my solidarity; you might want to start by respecting their autonomy.

Olympia Copwatcher
360-870-3127
360-464-1108 Skype

GhostOfSeverino

When all of your friends have been arrested it is incredibly difficult to avoid each other's cars and homes, not that we would even want to in the first place. Becoming ghosts sounds like a horrible idea.

By declaring myself an anarchist I recognize that I am in a perpetual war with society and that I am choosing to live my life as far outside of law and rule as I am able. The only other option that this society would allow me is submission, the reaping of my body through alienation and exploitation.

By declaring war against society I must reconcile the fact that at times the state will take hostages, and I myself may end up a hostage for a few days, a few months, or a few years. The risks involved in living a life entrenched in war are serious, and I don't take the decision to declare myself an anarchist lightly, but in the end I find within myself an unwillingness to submit and so I choose the life of the anarchist, the criminal.

When I am arrested I find it is important to reflect on how and why my arrest happened, but it is also important to recognize it as a reality of the life I am choosing to live. If I am actively engaging in a war against all of society arrest and imprisonment becomes almost an inevitability. I want to be able to learn from my mistakes, but I won't allow a fear of making mistakes deter me from living the life of a criminal, the only life this world avails me.

My life is happening now, at this moment, and it is just as important to live in this moment as it is in any other moment. To back down, to hide, to become a ghost out of fear, and not strategy, is to put my life on hold and that is something I would never do for anyone whether they are my lover or my enemy.

To become a ghost after these arrests would not be strategic, it would be cowardly. This society wants us to disappear, and for what? Playing music in a back yard with our friends and gathering on a sidewalk outside of a jail? If these are things we are willing to disappear for then we have not reconciled within ourselves that we are anarchists.

There is no safe place for us whether we are in our homes or in the streets, this has been proven. This is something we understand when we choose to live as anarchists.

DrewHendricks

Arguing that you're right to want to have friends isn't arguing against what I wrote - it's arguing that you're 'morally right' when I argued that you're tactically exposed. Not everyone understands the things you assume that they do about being an anarchist. Not everyone you live with or ride with will likely be an anarchist, either - so how is this going to affect them? That's up to you to discuss with them, not for you to assume on their part.

And no one was calling you a coward, it is interesting that you kept that meme as if it matters in your analysis. You know it's for shaming soldiers into doing what they don't want to do, so why hold onto it? No one asked you to live in fear; only to share with your allies what the risks are (as well as you can know them).

"Be safe, but don't pretend that you have the choice to become inactive. None of us have that choice, really." Yeah, I'm quoting myself there. But it seemed important to emphasize that here, given your reaction to what I didn't write...

Olympia Copwatcher
360-870-3127
360-464-1108 Skype