Revisiting Seattle’s WTO in Light of “Occupy Wall Street” Movement

Norm Stamper, Orcas resident and retired Seattle Police Chief, has reviewed the “Battle in Seattle” that occurred during the 1999 meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and its significance to the current “Occupy Wall Street” movements in various cities,  in an article that appeared in  The Nation:

They came from all over, tens of thousands of demonstrators from around the world, protesting the economic and moral pitfalls of globalization. Our mission as members of the Seattle Police Department? To safeguard people and property—in that order. Things went well the first day. We were praised for our friendliness and restraint—though some politicians were apoplectic at our refusal to make mass arrests for the actions of a few.

Then came day two. Early in the morning, large contingents of demonstrators began to converge at a key downtown intersection. They sat down and refused to budge. Their numbers grew. A labor march would soon add additional thousands to the mix.

“We have to clear the intersection,” said the field commander. “We have to clear the intersection,” the operations commander agreed, from his bunker in the Public Safety Building. Standing alone on the edge of the crowd, I, the chief of police, said to myself, “We have to clear the intersection.”

Why?

Because of all the what-ifs. What if a fire breaks out in the Sheraton across the street? What if a woman goes into labor on the seventeenth floor of the hotel?…….

(To read the full article, go to thenation.com/article/164501/paramilitary-policing-seattle-occupy-wall-street)