any info on where to send money for legal support?

Fuck the popo. I bet the team was led by Greg Calder. I hate that pig.

Does Seattle have an identified "red squad" — in NYC, jesus. The NYPD has a whole detail for Occupy, which is supposed to be illegal. They seem to be targeting folks in Seattle in an ongoing way.

I hope comrades are okay and folks can begin getting their thoughts collected on how to move forward.

In the mean time, maybe this will give E4E a boost of edginess. "Oh cool, that festival was SWAT raided last month, right? That sounds pretty hard!"

Did the papers mention what the incident was? Either way, I am glad no one was arrested. The police, as they currently are, are purely an instrument of capitalist politicians, who do their best to disrupt revolutionary potential wherever they see it arising.

Were there any arrests made? What was the PC for the warrant?

I mean it's pretty obvious the raid was a typical attempt to delegitmize E4E/Occupy along with a strong dose of paranoia. I'm wondering if this is becoming/heading towards a trend.

re: anarchist materials:

On May 11, 2012, I <a href="/https://www.muckrock.com/foi/view/seattle-wa/police-training-on-political-ideology/1329/" rel="nofollow">filed a public records request</a> with Seattle Police Department for the following:

<blockquote>All schedules, attendance records, printed or electronic training materials (handouts, manuals, videos presented or recorded, etc.) for all training attended by Seattle Police Department staff during the past five years regarding specific political ideologies. This should include but not be limited to those records related to the "training regarding anarchism" Rik Hall of the Seattle Police Department claimed to have attended during his assignment as detective in the sworn declaration in support of subpoena duces tecum submitted to KOMO-TV, KING-TV, KIRO-TV, KCPQ-TV, the Seattle Times, and the Seattle Post Intelligencer that Mr. Hall signed under penalty of perjury on May 7, 2012.</blockquote>

On June 27, they responded to my request (PDR # P2012-1508) with notification that no record of the training Mr. Hall claimed in that subpoena to have received could be found:

<blockquote>The Department has completed a search of the training unit records and has contacted Officer Hall to see if he had any responsive records. The Department did not find any responsive records to your request. Attached please find a copy of Officer Hall's Department training record.</blockquote>

I believe a formal apology and an explanation (and full public disclosure) of the details of what the warrant was for, is in order.

Can you post a copy of the warrant so we know who the fuck the judge is that signed this piece of shit and on what grounds?

Reblogged this on <a href="/http://nonviolentconflict.wordpress.com/2012/07/10/4377/" rel="nofollow">NonviolentConflict</a>.

Donate to the Everything 4 Everyone festival: https://www.wepay.com/donations/everything-for-everyone-festival

So, because these guys won't tell you-- they came with a SEARCH warrant (not the same as an ARREST warrant-- you'd think political protesters would know more about the processes they protest) in regards to an investigation pertaining to assault and riot in relation to may 1st. They took a black sweatshirt, a pink scarf, a pair of black goggles, "papers—notebook," a black bandana, a black stocking hat, and "paperwork—anarchists in the Occupy movement.", with the later almost certainly intended as use for showing motive at trial.

They of course want you to think its politically motivated state repression, and thats why they wrote it in this manner, however it's because the police are investigating a crime involving violence. If I had to guess? One or more of these guys are enroute to prison.

“This warrant says that they were specifically looking for ‘anarchist materials’ [sic]

Since when is being in possession of "anarchist materials" against the law? Does the Police even know the definition of Anarchism?

This is a clear violation of constitutional rights. They should immediately contact the ACLU. Plus they should immediately file a lawsuit against the Seattle Police.

As a middle of the road political mostly left person who stumbled across this, I get what Phil B is saying, but at the same time, it seems like they clearly need training about what they really *should* be looking for. I can see how if the police are untrained on what Anarchism really is, then, a well-meaning detective might right something up because they knew someone connected to a crime was an Anarchist, to consider that connection to be evidence. But, that same detective would NEVER write up that they were looking for Republican, or Christian materials, because of the fact that the suspect in a case is a known Christian.

From what I read of this, I think the pessimist, but also likely reality is as this article is written, but also a very real possibility, that it's a well-meaning detective at the core of it, who doesn't have a clue what's a totally inappropriate piece of evidence to look for. (In which case, he/she needs to be bloody trained on what is and is not evidence. But, at the core of that is also a PR thing honestly, how do you make it so that the more average juror, will start seeing Anarchism as a belief, not a piece of evidence? Because as long as a juror would see it as evidence, it will be tempting for the cops to present it that way.)

The USA is such a militarist police state - I would hate to live there. I was there once briefly and had to go through customs at Newark. The guy was a horrible mall-cop and I couldn't wait to get out of the country.

I think it comes from the imperialist militarist structure of society. The military's role in putting people through college, the arms industry lobby, draconian criminal laws for civil matters and the overall heavy handed nature of the policing pact you have agreed to. The police heavy handedness also seems linked to the politicisation of police, which most countries avoid for the very reason of the raid which appeared above.

Unfortunately the majority of the population are brainwashed and it will not be easy for you guys to wake people up. I really do wish you luck and it gives me heart to see that at least some people in the USA behave like free human beings. My love to you and do not be intimidated

Dear friends,
We have been informed about the SWAT raid on organizers of Occupy Seattle &amp; E4E, which we strongly condemn. We are confident that such intimidation attempts will only strengthen your resolution to continue your struggle. Your courageous movement in the USA is an inspiration for us all. Our hearts and minds are with you! We will soon send you an official statement of solidarity from Greece.

Yiorgos Anastasiou
Member of KOE and of SYRIZA (Coalition of Radical Left), Greece

@ Kevin McCaughey - The heavy handed nature of American policing is primarily due to <i><b>race</b></i> - specifically, the repression of African Americans, Native American Indians and immigrants. Strikebreaking has also played a major role in the origin of the brutality of American policing.

Local policing emerges in the slave states in the early 19th century as a means of preventing escapes and rebellions by Black slaves. The first federal law enforcement agency, the US Marshal Service, began it's existence in the mid 19th century chasing and arresting escaped slaves and returning them to their owners. In the same era the US Army began organizing Indian police forces to patrol the Indian reservations that Native American tribes were forced into at gunpoint by the military. Big city law enforcement in places like New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Chicago emerged also in the mid 19th century as a means of controlling the large working class and poor immigrant populations in those cities and also as a way to help bosses break strikes.

To this day, repressing minorities and strikebreaking are major focuses of American law enforcement, which is why American cops are so heavily armed and why police departments here are so quick to resort to deadly force.

:Also, "we" never "agreed" to the "policing pact" <b>it was imposed on us by the rulers a very long time ago</b> so please don't get it twisted and blame us for the repression inflicted on us by our rulers, thank you very much. As for the majority of the population being "brainwashed" - not really. Again, it's a race thing - many White Americans see the police department as the "thin blue line" that protects them from being attacked by Blacks (many Whites here fear that one day Black Americans will rise up and do to the White community what they did to our ancestors for 400 years - you'd be surprised how widespread that view is in this country)

Militarism and the role the military plays in putting people through college doesn't really have very much at all to do with any of that.

America is a nation of 300 million with only 3 million soldiers under arms. We haven't had a draft since 1976, so all of those troops are volunteers. They are a very small segment of the population and are somewhat isolated from the rest of the country. Most Americans have never served in the military. As for colleges, only a small minority of college students go to school on the Montgomery GI Bill - the vast majority of students here take out loans and go deep into debt to pay for their schooling.

Goddamn police state! This fascism and repression of people exercising their First-Amendment rights is BIPARTISAN!

Yet another reason I vote Green Party.

BTW, the Green Party just qualified for matching Federal funds by raising enough money in INDIVIDUAL donations in over 20 states. The Green Party doesn't accept corporate money and they represent the 99%.

Your Green vote sends a message to the corporate parties that selling out citizens to corporate interests will cost them votes.

And this message is sent even if the Green you vote for loses.

VOTE GREEN 2012!

SWAT was formed in response to the Watts riots and was first deployed against the Black Panthers in 1969. Although it tries to present itself as an apolitical tactical unit for "high risk" situations, political repression and counter-insurgency have been at its core from the beginning.

What the police are trying to do is multi-layered:
a) Intimidation and suppression of civil liberties
b) Seizure of materials to justify raids or aid prosecution in order to -
c) Provoke a violent response to justify further actions and more intimidation and suppression.
d) Set the grounds for a "false flag" incident to accomplish all of the above.

The cops are NOT there to protect you- wake up.

Most cops are too stupid to know how dumb they are. The see everyone as guilty of some crime and they just have to find out what you have done wrong. If they can't find the crime, they invent it: possession of drugs, weapons, terrorist actions, you name it, they try it. Think I'm wrong? then you have never been involved with them as an innocent person.

This is a disgrace; don't we have any rights any more? I am sick and tired of seeing these idiots on TV telling everyone how Iran and Syria and anyone else that won’t kiss the boots of these so called “defenders of democracy”, that the US is the home of freedom and democracy. There was more democracy in Russia under the communists than exists in the US at the moment. It has always been a country that likes to bully others into line, but in the past they at least gave Americans the right to protest. This is so ironic. After so many years of fighting for their rights, the coloured people then get stuck with their first coloured president, and he is as bad if not worse for abusing rights than the lot of them put together. If this wasn’t so bad, it would be a joke. Maybe they’ll give him another peace prize, god what a bunch of idiots they must feel.

have been living in NW of WA for years, every apartment I've ever lived, I chose to have the high security system, and yet, all have Meth-Labs around. Finding out cooking Meth-Lab is a very popular career and profitable income within the local communities in NW of WA! I called 911 many many times, contacted with local law-enforcements on regularly basis--AMAZINGLY, NOTHING HAPPENED, Meth-Labs still cooking openly without police disturbing at all. I've been anti-social because of the fact that almost Every one cooks Meth-Lab once in a while and/or all the times, certainly no going to associate with any of the local for that matter. Local religious and social leaders are responsible for this because those Meth-Lab cookers are local church goers and over heard that was their pastors told them to cook their Meth-Labs... That's not kidding when they said ''They've been trying turning our Great America into Mexico!!!" and yes, I can 'see', it's possible.

Elaine-theRainbow

I would urge everyone on the Left to give full support to the Red Spark Collective and Occupy Seattle following this paramilitary assault on progressives. The Left either stands together or hangs together.

The Chessboard keeps losing pieces. Notice how you are up in arms about how the police treat you, and the police are up in arms by how you treat them. You can keep fighting the battles, but at this rate, you will never win the war.

Gregory Butler, while I think your assessment of race, or more accurately systemic, institutional racism, as a key underlying factor in capitalist police state strategy, has merit, I disagree that that's what's at work here. The latest repression of Red Spark/Occupy Seattle (and of the Occupy movement generally), of the NATO 5 in Chicago, of May Day protesters in cities across the country, of Freedom Road, and of demonstrators against the DNC/RNC past and (I'm afraid) future, strikes me as being motivated by an intent to send a clear message to the (racially diverse but mostly white) Left in the US, the message being that any hint of organization toward subverting the system will not be tolerated. The day to day racism which blacks and Latinos experience across the country also serves a key function in this context - the aim being disunity among an ever more dominated working class.

I'm from Occupy Tacoma, and our GA passed a strong statement in support of Occupy Seattle and Red Spark Collective. The GA wanted to make sure that posting the resolution would not run counter to whatever defense efforts OS and RSC have ongoing. I have a PDF of this resolution, and we're eager to post it on our site. Who should I contact? I'm having a bit of trouble figuring out how to contact someone responsible.

Regards,
Alan OldStudent
www.occcupytacoma.org