[Seattle-editorial] FEATURE proposal : LEIU arrests

[jonathan lawson]

Hey. Due to the time-senitive nature of this, I'm going ahead and posting 
it now. Any objections, please voice and, of course, feel free to edit/add 
links.

subtitle: MILITARIZED SPD ON DISPLAY FOR LEIU
title: Undercover Police Provoke Conflict; Legal Observer Shot and Hospitalized

At least twelve people have been arrested following June 2 demonstrations 
against the <a href="http://nobigbrother.net/">LEIU conference</a> in 
downtown Seattle, near where the secretive private intelligence network is 
holding its annual conference. In one confrontation between Seattle Police 
and demonstrators, National Lawyers Guild legal observer Larry Hildes was 
hospitalized after being shot in the back with "non-lethal" weapons.

<p>Following an early evening rally in Westlake Park, several hundred 
demonstrators began a nonviolent, permitted march toward the LEIU 
conference site, the Red Lion Hotel, where cordons of police waited in riot 
gear. The crowd continued to rally there with music from the Anti-Fascist 
Marching Band and the Infernal Noise Brigade; some burned and tore US 
flags. One protester climbed atop a nearby awning and attempted to burn a 
flag there; as he descended, other demonstrators huddled around him to 
protect him against identification and arrest. However, one or more of the 
people in this huddle turned out to be undercover police, and disorder 
broke out when one undercover cop reportedly provoked a fistfight while 
attempting to subdue the protester. The police then moved against the 
dispersing crowd, using pepper spray, concussion grenades, plastic clubs 
and guns loaded with <a 
href="http://seattle.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=28100">non-lethal 
weapons</a>. Several people were seriously hurt after receiving pepper 
spray in the face. Before being taken to the hospital, Hildes reportedly 
described the encounter as "the worst he had ever seen.<a 
href="http://seattle.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=28103">Read more 
here</a>.

<p> Photos from June 2 march <a 
href="http://wanska.com/photos/album06">here</a> and <a 
href="http://seattle.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=28095">here</a>. 
LEIU coverage on <a href="http://www.radio-x.org/">Radio X</a> daily 4-7pm 
through June 7