emergency alert

What a day Saturday.

In a week of days.

I was writing, so I kept an eye on the George Lloyd protests downtown, on Twitter and Facebook.

I want to stress that everything I saw online looked crowded, passionate, and peaceful.

Around 4.15 I packed up to make the long walk back to my neighborhood, sloshing along in heavy rain down Westlake towards downtown. I'd put my phone on airplane mode since the battery was low and I wasn't sure if I'd run into the protest.I was pretty sure it was around 4th and Pine and maybe the freeway along Madison so even though I was curious, I didn't think I'd see much.

Near Westlake and Denny, the sidewalk suddenly got busier with crowds of people walking away from dt. I smelled gas.

I turned my phone on and immediately got a siren and emergency alert. Then another.

*

Time to re-route. I went back to Terry and walked parallel to Denny, eventually cutting over to Denny just before Fairview. Denny was a parking lot. Rain continued to gush from the sky. I saw a 62 bus heading up the hill, way off its route.

As I walked uphill a couple of groups of young white guys in black masks passed me hurrying down. With this area's history of violent protest, it was worrisome.

I ran into a few more groups of guys up near Broadway and Denny. Two #2 buses passed me, also way off their routes.. One said "Sorry, Bus is Full" or something on the front.

Police cars blocked most of the intersections into downtown.

I had a dinner order waiting at Lost Lake so I walked down Broadway, taking pictures of signs. A girl stood on the corner of Broadway and Pine talking about the protest, crying. Other groups of protesters were walking, talking, calm but definitely not lingering.

I stood in the rain outside of Lost Lake at 6pm, talking through masks to a delivery driver while we waited for food. The streets were eerily mostly empty by now.

The intersection at 12th and Pine, where the police precinct is, was barricaded and had cop cars, lights flashing, stationed at each corner.

*

At home. I caught up on the news, watched a livestream of downtown and the devastation. Cars burned and charred, a man with a stolen SPD gun, kids pepper sprayed, Nordstrom on fire.

I heard that violence came up the hill to Melrose and Pine, but an early walk this morning showed mostly quiet, with Amazon Go boarded up but open.

A couple walked past me down Pike, armed with trash grabbers, on their way downtown to help clean up.