Police arrest 13 during demonstration that turned destructive

SEATTLE — More than 10 people were arrested during a demonstration that turned destructive Saturday night in Seattle, police said.

According to authorities, 13 people were arrested for crimes, including property damage, obstruction and felony assault.

Several people with the marchers vandalized businesses, threw rocks at officers, dragged signs and other objects into the streets, creating barriers.

Police said at 7 p.m., demonstrators gathered at Occidental Park and began marching at about 8 p.m. toward the waterfront. When the marchers got to Alaskan Way between Yesler Way and Columbia Street, they dragged barricades, fencing and cones from a construction zone into the street, blocking several lanes of traffic.

Police ordered the demonstrators to stop. Also, due to the demonstrators’ actions, state troopers temporarily closed the ferry terminal until they left the area, officials said.

Twenty minutes later, officers arrested several people in the 200 block of Columbia Street, who meddled with the construction zone and blocked the street. One person was also arrested for assaulting an officer.

During the arrests, others from the group began throwing rocks at officers in an attempt to prevent the arrests, according to police. Someone struck an officer with a rock, but they were not injured due to the protection of their helmet.

Police said some of the rocks thrown were the size of a baseball and weighed as much as 1.7 pounds.

Officers also recovered a backpack containing a hammer, a rock and two cans of spray paint near Second Avenue and Columbia Street.

When the remaining marchers reached Second Avenue and Lenora Street at about 9 p.m., they broke several windows and vandalized a business, according to police.

And not much later, officers identified a person in the group who pulled barriers into the street and arrested the demonstrator who attempted to flee when police said he was under arrest.

As the demonstrators continued marching, police said they saw a person with the group break a glass sign display case and arrested the person.

At 9:30 p.m., two others were arrested near Fourth Avenue and Olive Street for obstruction, according to law enforcement. One suspect grabbed an officer’s patrol bike, and the other ignored an officer’s command to move and interfered with police.

Fifteen minutes later, police said another person was arrested for pedestrian interference, accused of moving a barrier in the road at Third Avenue and Union Street.

The group eventually dispersed after returning to Occidental Park sometime around 10 p.m.

Police said four of the demonstrators arrested were booked into the King County Jail. Nine were processed and released from Seattle Police Department’s West Precinct.

Cox Media Group