Demonstrators spark 4-hour gridlock on I-5 near Pine Street

SEATTLE — Demonstrators were removed from I-5 after blocking the northbound lanes near Pine Street to call for a ceasefire in Gaza Saturday.

The Washington State Department of Transportation says the backup was about three miles long while traffic was diverted onto eastbound I-90.

Participants also blocked nearby overpasses and lit off green and red colored fireworks on the roadway.

Washington State Patrol was on the other side of the blockade which lasted for hours.

“That’s your right to protest, but the freeway is not a safe place to do that,” said Trooper Rick Johnson with WSP.

Seattle police say some of the protesters first walked onto the roadway from Olive Way.

Officers issued several dispersal orders before the demonstrators were removed.

After the fourth hour the freeway had been abandoned by demonstrators. However, about a dozen cars were left by their drivers and needed to be towed away. That added another hour to the delay in reopening the freeway.

“Disruption to, commercial vehicles to just regular people driving to, you know, emergency vehicles,” said Trooper Johnson. “So there’s, there’s a lot of different facets to why this is disorderly conduct and not safe.”

Many people on social media were asking why the demonstration took so long to clear.

Johnson told KIRO 7 reporter Samantha Lomibao that it all came down to not having enough resources to handle the situation safely and efficiently.

“To deal with as many people as we had, you know, we had to call troopers out,” said Johnson. “And, of course, that doesn’t happen real quickly.”

“Because we have to be prepared for, you know, for whatever may happen,” he added.

Only six state troopers typically cover that I-5 area, but on Saturday that number quickly rose upwards of 60.

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