Stryker shipments protested

Olympian news services • Published July 31, 2008

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Military equipment from the Iraq War, including Strykers and Humvees, was being unloaded Wednesday at the Port of Tacoma, and law enforcement officials were prepared for protesters.

STRYKER SHIPMENTS

May 2004: Military shipments normally used the Port of Tacoma, but Fort Lewis starts using the Port of Olympia for the first time since 1987. Few protesters.

June 2004: Another shipment at Olympia. Few protesters.

May 2005: Shipment on USNS Pililaau in Olympia. Some protesters, but no major confrontations with police.

November 2005: Shipment on USNS Fisher in Olympia. Some protesters, but no major confrontations.

May 2006: Anti-war activists and police clash during protests in Olympia, where USNS Pomeroy transported military shipments to Iraq. Police make about 38 arrests in about a week. On one day, police make 22 arrests and use pepper-spray to disband the crowd after it tore down the port’s main entry gate. Activists try to block traffic and prevent convoys of Strykers from reaching the port.

March 2007: Police arrest 37 during protests by Tacoma and Olympia Port Militarization Resistance at the Port of Tacoma.

May 2007: The Port of Grays Harbor in Aberdeen receives military equipment bound for Iraq. Olympia Port Militarization Resistance protests. Olympia and Tacoma groups help Aberdeen protesters.

November 2007: More than 60 people arrested during protests by Olympia Port Militarization Resistance in response to USNS Brittin’s attempts to unload military equipment at Olympia. Police use pepper-spray and batons to disperse crowds. July: Shipment to Tacoma on USNS Brittin.

Source: The Olympian files

A handful of people showed up at the Port of Tacoma on Wednesday night to protest the return of combat vehicles.

The members of the Port Militarization Resistance group said the returning vehicles were part of a cycle, which would eventually see them sent back to war again.

Unlike past protests in Tacoma and Olympia, the protesters mostly stood around. They didn’t chant. They didn’t hold signs.

One man was arrested on suspicion of obstructing a police officer. Two others were given trespassing warnings.

The Port Militarization Resistance objects to public ports in Washington being used to ship military cargo to and from the war in Iraq on the belief that the war is immoral and illegal.

“We’re opposed to the cycle at all points,” Wally Cuddeford of the protest group said.

Protests have been a part of the return of wartime military equipment during the past few years at ports in Olympia, Grays Harbor and Tacoma. Confrontations sometimes have led to violence, leading to a number of arrests.

“If there are any demonstrations, we are hopeful that the demonstrators will conduct themselves lawfully,” Fort Lewis spokesman Joseph Piek had said earlier.

Piek added that “(We hope) that we can complete the mission in a safe and secure manner.”

Military shipments at the Port of Olympia in November and May 2006 resulted in protests that lasted for days, and dozens were arrested. Charges are pending against some of the protesters arrested in November.

In both cases, the equipment being loaded and then unloaded belonged to 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), which served 15 months in Iraq.

More than 900 vehicles in all arrived at the Port of Tacoma on Tuesday aboard the USNS Brittin.

Tacoma police and 10 other public safety agencies said they spent $1 million on staffing and overtime during the 12-day loadout last time. The Port of Tacoma billed the Army about $324,000 in wharfage fees and another $204,000 in longshore worker labor for the March 2007 loadout, port billing records say.

Equipment belonging to 4th Brigade was loaded at the Port of Tacoma in March 2007, leading to another round of protests.