December 1999 Freedom Socialist Party and Radical Women
Condemn the Police Siege of Seattle
The Freedom Socialist Party and Radical Women condemn the unconstitutional suspension of civil liberties by Mayor Paul Schell and Governor Gary Locke in response to protests of the World Trade Organization meeting held in Seattle on November 30. The sweeping arrests of peaceful demonstrators over the past three days and the crushing of protest through force and a “No Protest Zone” downtown are actions worthy of a police state. For these reasons,we support the ACLU injunction against the city’s clampdown on free speech.
Anne Slater, Radical Women organizer told the press “The U.S. Constitution should not be suspended to protect international corporations from the anger of those opposed to the human and environmental devastation caused by the WTO.”
Slater charged that city and state officials are using the minimal destruction of private property by a small group to stifle any and all forms of protest against the WTO.
Seattle FSP organizer Luma Nichol agreed, “The real threat to Seattle's corporate boosters was the militancy of forty thousand workers, students, radicals, and environmentalists from all over the world and the U.S. who marched on Tuesday and took over downtown Seattle through the sheer size of their numbers.”
“As ugly as it is to show riot police spraying tear gas on the streets of Seattle around the world,” Nichol continued, “big business and the political establishment prefer this to allowing the city to become the birthplace of a mass movement mobilized against the monstrous policies of the WTO.”
Nichols and Slater urged all WTO resisters and civil liberties proponents to call the Seattle City Council, Mayor Paul Schell and Governor Gary Locke to demand:
* Free all those arrested during the WTO police sweeps and drop all charges. Pay the medical costs of those injured and recompense any wages lost due to unjust arrests.
* End the police siege and send home the National Guard.
* Condemn the Mayoral Proclamation of Civil Emergency and denounce the unconstitutional restriction of free speech rights and the right to public assembly imposed via curfews and the “No protest zone.”
* Institute an elected civilian review board over the police independent of the mayor and city council.
* Hold public hearings on the state of siege and cases of police abuse; prosecute the officers and city officials responsible.
* Build solidarity among all the WTO resistance organizations and protesters; don’t fall prey to false divisions of “good” and “bad” protesters.
Issued by:
Freedom Socialist Party & Radical Women
5018 Rainier Avenue South, Seattle, Washington 98118
206-722-2453 or 722-6057 < >
