Protesters, police rest

By Christian Hill | The Olympian • Published November 15, 2007

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OLYMPIA – After a week of unrest, the scene in and around the Port of Olympia was quiet Wednesday as police and demonstrators criticized the other side's conduct during the previous night's protest, which led to 43 arrests.

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No equipment moved out of the port Wednesday, and a handful of people stood outside the port's main gate late Wednesday night.

Dick Machlan, the Olympia Police Department's administrative services manager, told reporters earlier in the day that protesters had been overly aggressive.

A small group of protesters threw rocks and rolled trash bins or threw debris onto roads Tuesday night to stop the convoys of Stryker vehicles, accompanied by patrol cars, after the convoys left the port through a secondary exit.

Windows at U.S. Bank's downtown branch were broken, and rocks thrown by a small group of protesters hit one officer in the knee and broke windows on a patrol car, Olympia police Lt. Jim Costa said Tuesday night.

Earlier Tuesday, port maintenance workers had found concrete on the railroad leading out of the property and removed it. Railcars carrying military equipment and vehicles moved from the port to Fort Lewis on Wednesday morning.

"We're monitoring for any other possible incidents," said Patti Grant, port spokeswoman.

Olympia police are accustomed to dealing with protests, but this group "moved it to a different realm," Machlan said.

"Some people are there to make a point about the war," he added. "But once the point has been made, they need to move on."

No one who was arrested was thought to have damaged property, Machlan said.

Protesters said it was police who escalated the situation, shifting from individually arresting protesters who blocked the port's main access road to using batons and pepper spray and dragging people to disrupt a nonviolent demonstration. Thirty-eight women and five men were arrested.

"Most of the people here are peaceful and would have submitted to being arrested without resisting," said Robert Whitlock, 29, one of the protesters who were arrested. He was at a vigil Wednesday evening at Percival Landing that drew more than 70 people.