Seattle Anti-Sharia March Largely Peaceful; Ends In Pepper Spray And Arrests

SEATTLE, WA - An overall peaceful day of demonstrating for and against sharia law turned violent as right- and left-wing demonstrators clashed in Seattle's Occidental Square Saturday afternoon. The two sides converged on the Pioneer Square neighborhood after the larger demonstrations had ended. As protesters got into fist fights, Seattle police responded by deploying pepper spray and arresting three people for assault.

"At the conclusion of the rally the large group returned to Occidental Park. Officers continued to monitor the crowds and separate the opposing groups, but shortly after 12:30 a large fight broke out. Officers used pepper spray to break up the crowd. Officers arrested one woman and two men for obstructing. They were later booked into the King County Jail," Seattle police said in a statement.

A group called ACT For America planned a number of anti-sharia demonstrations across the U.S. on Saturday. In Seattle, the anti-sharia demonstrators held a rally in front of City Hall with about 75 people. Meanwhile on the street in front of City Hall, several hundred counter-protesters chanted and made noise to try and drown out the anti-sharia event. The counter-protesters, in size and message, overshadowed the ACT event.

The melee broke just after noon near the intersection of Occidental Avenue and Main Street in the Pioneer Square neighborhood. It's unclear who started the fight, but it involved left-wing antifascist protesters and some of the more hardcore anti-sharia demonstrators, some aligned with the Vancouver-based Patriot Prayer organization. (Click here to get breaking news updates from Seattle Patch.)

All day, Seattle police had been able to keep the two sides separate. There were a few tense moments at the end of the anti-sharia event as an antifascist demonstrator open carrying a gun got into a shouting match with right-wing demonstrators. Several right-wing protesters were also glitter-bombed and sprayed with silly string.

The day's events kicked off around 9 a.m. at Occidental Square, the rallying point for the counter-protesters . After speeches from local clergy and others, a crowd of over 100 marched to City Hall to confront the anti-sharia protest.

The Rev. Tim Phillips of Seattle First Baptist Church said it was important for counter-demonstrators to show up to prevent the anti-sharia crowd from misusing the concept of sharia.

"The attempt to use that misunderstanding [of sharia] for destructive ends is harmful and has ramifications for all of us," Phillips said.

When the counter-demonstration reached City Hall, the demonstrators gathered along 4th Avenue facing the building. The anti-sharia protest was located in a plaza above the street. The counter-demonstrators tried to drown out the anti-sharia event by shouting, banging pots and pans, and blowing air horns. One person brought an amplifier that played the sound of a train horn at a deafening volume.

Around 10 a.m., there were less than 50 anti-sharia protesters, but their ranks swelled to over 100 as the event got underway. The anti-sharia demonstration was organized locally by Anthony Parish, of Kent, who is a regular fixture in downtown Seattle, often seen carrying pro-Christian signs in the Westlake area.

The anti-sharia event was mostly a collection of speeches where participants read stories purportedly written by people living under sharia law: the story of woman forced into marriage; another woman who was forced to undergo genital mutilation; another person who was forced to leave their home because they refused to worship Islam.

The protesters conflated sharia with the religious penal codes of antiquity. Sharia, in general, is how Muslims live their religion - that means sharia includes everything from washing hands before a meal to not eating pork to fasting during Ramadan.

One demonstrator named Murphy appeared to not know the basic concept of sharia. When asked why he would demonstrate against the way someone lives their religion, he said, "Well, I definitely understand that." He then questioned why the counter-protesters would not engage in a debate about sharia.

The anti-sharia march wound down around 11:30 a.m. The anti-sharia demonstrators left City Hall, and began to get into shouting matches with the counter-protesters. Seattle police quickly separated the two sides, preventing any serious confrontations.

At around noon, the counter-protest headed back to Occidental Park, where several more speakers talked about the importance of the day's actions: showing the anti-sharia crowd that their beliefs are not widespread in Seattle.

Also gathered at Occidental were a large number of antifascist protesters. At one point, members of the alt-right Patriot Prayer group arrived near Occidental along Main Street. Also mixed in were a few so-called "Proud Boys," another right-wing group associated with the media figure Gavin McInnes. Police tried to keep the politically-opposed groups separated, but demonstrators found a way to come to blows.

Many demonstrators - on both sides - seemed to be primed for confrontation from the start. The antifascists carried out several glitter bombings throughout the day, and members of the Patriot Prayer group, for example, seemed to seek out their political opposites.

Images Neal McNamara/Patch.com