Protests spread beyond port into downtown Olympia

By Jeremy Pawloski and Diane Huber | The Olympian • Published November 11, 2007

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Earlier, about 9:45 a.m. Saturday, Olympia police officers in riot gear used pepper spray and physically removed protesters who were blocking the entrance to the port.

A week of unrest

Monday

The USNS Brittin lands at the Port of Olympia to unload equipment that was used in Iraq by the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team).

Tuesday

About 150 protesters carry signs and chant as they march from Percival Landing through downtown, backing up traffic on Fourth Avenue as they make their way to the fenced-off area where the USNS Brittin is docked. There is little interaction between protesters and police.

Wednesday

Two people are arrested Wednesday night and early Thursday morning. Protests start out calm but escalate as the evening progresses and protesters chase or jump in front of combat vehicles leaving the port. Police use batons and drag protesters out of the road.

Thursday

Protesters gather at the port entrance, but no convoys leave the port and there are no confrontations with police. Police report the extra response to the protests cost the city $10,000.

Friday

At 4 p.m., about 40 people block the paths of two trucks carrying a Stryker and cargo containers. The Olympia Police Department does not have enough officers to remove the protesters. Protesters remain at the port entrance all night and build a barricade of garbage cans and a truck axle at the Market Street and Marine Drive entrance. Port workers appear to cleared the barricade at about 8:15 a.m. Saturday.

Saturday

• 10:20 a.m.: Police force a line of protesters to move away from the Market Street port gates. No one is arrested.

• 12:15 p.m.: Police arrest at least three people near Plum Street and Fourth Avenue after protesters jump in front of a truck.

• 12:30 p.m.: Police arrest nine more people who had linked arms through PVC pipe, partly blockading Plum Street near Union Avenue in an attempt to keep a convoy from getting onto Interstate 5.

• 2:30 p.m.: Olympia Port Militarization Resistance members meet to discuss upcoming plans and vow to continue to resist any shipments.
Previous protests

The current protests of shipments at the Port of Olympia are among several at Western Washington ports in the past few years. The others:

•May 2007: Olympia Port Militarization Resistance, the group that has organized Olympia's current protests, also organized several days of protests of a planned military shipment at the Port of Grays Harbor. More than 60 demonstrators marched, and no one was arrested, according to The Daily World newspaper. Some activists at the protest said they thought the military had decided to ship cargo from the Port of Grays Harbor to avoid the greater potential for protests in Olympia and Tacoma. Joe Hitt, a Fort Lewis spokesman, said that had no effect on the decision to use the Grays Harbor port.

•March 2007: Protesters targeted the Port of Tacoma to call attention to the shipment of 1,000 Strykers and other Fort Lewis vehicles from there to Iraq. Thirty-seven people were arrested during the nighttime protests. The biggest clash came March 11, when 23 were arrested while attempting an act of coordinated civil disobedience. Among those arrested was Olympia City Council member T.J. Johnson.

In July, a Tacoma Municipal Court judge declined to bring charges against 13 of those arrested, including Johnson. He ruled that officers misinterpreted the state law under which the protesters were charged. The city still seeks payment from the military and the Port of Tacoma for the more than $600,000 cost of policing the protests.

•May 2006: Nearly 40 people were arrested during 10 days of protests against a military shipment at the Port of Olympia, most during a protest in which some demonstrators damaged port gates, and authorities fired pepper spray to disperse the crowd. Charges against the demonstrators eventually were dropped.

The security detail cost the city $9,513 in overtime payments and $4,532 worth of comp time, which is time the officers can take off in return for their extra work. Twenty-nine police officers and four corrections officers spent a total of 213 hours at the event.

There, a larger number of protesters also stood by and shouted at police. A smaller group that included some of the truck drivers who were waiting to move military equipment to Fort Lewis stood in quiet support for the police actions.

Paramedics treated several protesters hit with pepper spray, including one young woman screaming in pain. The line of protesters at the port's gates, some wearing goggles and other protective gear, withstood several sprays. Officers also picked them up and threw them away from the road they had blocked.

Protesters decry treatment

After being pepper-sprayed, Olympia Port Militarization Resistance member Eran Rhodes said, "My face is on fire right now because I was holding a peace sign. Not a single attempt of an arrest was made. They came in beating people up."

OlyPMR member Matt Lester also criticized the police tactics.

"If this isn't fascism, I don't know what is," he said.

Protesters appeared to be ready for pepper spray, with a group they call "medics", who used water as an eye rinse, as well as vinegar and a diluted Maalox to help lessen the effects for those hit.

Many also wore goggles and handkerchiefs to protect themselves.

"I knew what I was doing was going to get me arrested or attacked with chemical weapons or batons," said Evergreen State College student Davi Rios, who was among those arrested for attempting to block the Plum Street entrance to Interstate 5.

OlyPMR member Andrew Yankey, however, said that during the police action at the port Saturday morning, police ripped off protesters' protective goggles and sprayed them directly in the face.

"I was dragged and sprayed in the face repeatedly," he said. "My goggles were ripped off my face and stolen."

James Steele, an Evergreen student who was also arrested from the I-5 blockade, said he was hit with a pepper-spray pellet that caused him to cough and throw up.

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