The Seattle Police deployed tear gas again Monday night in a tightly-packed residential neighborhood of Seattle.
Like an obedient child I had stayed indoors. My phone blared with yet another emergency message from the city, announcing yet another curfew.
It was a restless night inside. I watched livestream of the protest downtown, then up to the hill.
Heard loud bangs around 9 or 9.30pm--at first I thought it was the recycling bins between my building and the neighbor building. But, it was the flash/bang grenades the cops use to disperse people.
There were rat-a-tats and thumps.Tear gas, I now know.
I read about it, in the morning, after a concerned message from my boss.
A wild night of protest, attacks and chases.
A pink umbrella allegedly set off the riot declaration.
I awoke to burning eyes, itchy skin, and a headache, wondering whether tear gas had gotten inside my apartment.
*
I don't want to look back on these times and wonder what the hell I was doing.
SPD had the street blocked off again on 12th, from Howell and past Pine. Barricades, officers. Like they're afraid.
There were 2 competing protests, one inside the ballfield, the other in the street at Pine and 11th, nose-to-nose with a wall of police. The ballfield protest was supposedly the peaceful one, so I stood there for awhile.The crowd skewed teen and twenty-ish.
They're organized---there were people directing foot traffic, handing out water and masks, some with Medic signs taped to their backpacks. Two officers stood watching, and idly chatting.
A guy walked by with a homemade sign that had a hand-drawn pink umbrella and, "Not a riot."
Two or three helicopters circled overhead. The speaker on the ballfield was hoarse, yelling into a bullhorn, barely audible, passionate.
The crowd in the street behind him was raucous, chanting. There were more of them. They seemed like they were having more fun. More than a few of the ballfield crowd abandoned ship for the street.
*
I went home, finally. Protests are a lot like parties--every person has a different experience, and it changes by the moment, depending on where you are in the space and who you're with.
Dozens of people passed me, streaming down every block, holding signs, ready to protest.
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