Seattle Protest: Large Black Lives Matter Rally Downtown

SEATTLE, WA – A large Black Lives Matter protest wound through downtown streets on Black Friday, with hundreds of protesters loudly chanting slogans like, “Black lives matter, not Black Friday!” as dozens of police kept watch

The protest was largely peaceful, although at one point a handful of protesters made it inside the Westlake Center mall downtown. There was no property damage. At one point, near City Hall along 4th Avenue, police formed a blockade to prevent marchers from proceeding farther south, which set off a tense but brief standoff where protesters shouted at the police to move.

The event began around 1 p.m. at Westlake Park. Amid shoppers and families out for holiday festivities, the protesters held signs denouncing Donald Trump as a racist and asking for a halt to the Dakota access pipeline. Many protesters held Black Lives Matter signs, but members of other groups – the Green Party, the Socialist Alternative Party – came out too.

The march departed Westlake Park near 2 p.m. and looped around downtown before heading south to the intersection of 5th Avenue and University Street. Seattle Police officers on bikes wearing plastic body armor rode along the sidewalks to keep the marchers contained to the street.

When the protest hit 4th Avenue and Columbia, the officers blocked off the street with their bikes, and officers holding batons arrived as backup. One woman crossed the blockade and, wearing a mask over her face, sat in the middle of the street among the police. She was not arrested.

The march stopped in front of a Wells Fargo branch along 4th Avenue, a bank that protesters singled out as contributing to the Dakota access pipeline project.

The march then returned to Westlake Park where hundreds of protesters sat down in the intersection of 5th Avenue and Pine Street. While there, activists gave speeches. A young girl – identified as being in middle school – captured the crowd’s attention as she put her fist in the air and asked, “Whose lives matter?”

“Black lives matter!” the crowd answered her enthusiastically.

Speaking to the crowd, activist Nikkita Oliver agreed that the girl’s enthusiasm was exceptional, but also lamented that such a young person felt the need to focus on issues like police brutality.

Passersby snapped photos of the protest and some joined in with the chanting. Inside Westlake Center, shoppers were temporarily blocked from using some exits, causing consternation. A few times, passersby shouted “All lives matter!” at the protesters.

After the speeches concluded, the crowd departed Westlake and headed up Pine Street. When the marchers reached the I-5 on-ramp near the convention center, Seattle Police and Washington State Patrol officers were there to block access to the highway. Black Lives Matter protesters have in Seattle, and elsewhere, marched onto highways to disrupt traffic.

The marchers then headed north up Westlake Avenue and through South Lake Union. They came to a stop at the intersection of Mercer and Westlake, forming a large circle that blocked the intersection.

The crowd appeared to dissipate near 5 p.m.