Capitol Hill Protest Met With Flash Bangs, Dozens Arrested

SEATTLE, WA — A peaceful demonstration Saturday devolved into a chaotic scene, starting when a splinter group of protesters set fire to structures at a construction site near the county youth detention center after over an hour of marching. Not much later, police declared the event a riot, just after thousands of protesters approached the Seattle Police Department's East Precinct on Capitol Hill Saturday afternoon.

After the riot declaration, officers began to employ blast balls and flash bangs on protesters, as Seattle Chief of Police had warned they may in a statement.

“In the spirit of offering trust and full transparency, I want to advise you that SPD officers will be carrying pepper spray and blast balls today, as would be typical for events that carry potential to include violence,” Best wrote. "This is consistent with existing policy and the Court’s order of early this morning. SPD promises the community that we will not deploy CS (tear) gas. "

The court order in question was the result of a late night ruling Friday by a federal judge who temporarily blocked Seattle's ban on crowd control weapons. As a result of that last-minute decision, officers have been freed to use pepper spray, tear gas and flash-bangs, though only under certain conditions, and with direct authorization from the police chief.

The demonstration had begun in the early afternoon with a gathering near Seattle Central College on Capitol Hill. Organizers said the protest was a show of solidarity for their fellow protesters in Portland, who have seen several hectic nights over the past week after federal agents descended upon the city.

After a period of speeches and declarations downtown, demonstrators began a march through Seattle's First Hill, Central District and Capitol Hill neighborhoods. Eventually, the march pulled up to the King County Juvenile Detention center, where a small group of protesters splintered off and breaking windows, and even overturned portable construction trailers, one of which could be seen billowing a black smoke shortly afterwards. At that point police, who had not been with the protest thus far, say they arrived and began to clear access for Seattle Fire, who arrived shortly after to put out the blaze.

Meanwhile, the bulk of the demonstration had moved north, returning to the SPD East Precinct, and the area of Capitol Hill that had earlier this summer been the "Capitol Hill Occupied Protest" before being shut down by city officials who claimed the area was unsafe following a pair of deadly shootings inside the zone.

Shortly after demonstrators arrived, some began to breach a fence outside the precinct. Just moments after, the crowd at large was wracked with blast balls and flash bangs, as police declared the protest a riot and begin attempting to disperse them from the area. Witnesses on the ground say the first shelling appears to have come from officers station atop the East Precinct building, but officers also quickly took to the streets as well in armored cars and on a brigade of bikes to forcefully disperse the crowd.

Several injuries were reported among the protesters, including at least one journalist covering the event, and footage from the scene shows demonstrators calling for medics for help. At least one of those medics was also hit with pepper spray while trying to attend to an injured demonstrator. One SPD officer was also injured by an explosive, according to Seattle Police.

As of just before 10 p.m. Friday, at least 45 demonstrators have been arrested.

Patch will be following this story and will update this page as the situation develops.