Protestors surround jail as police open brutality probe

Protestors surround jail as police open brutality probe
AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE

SEATTLE, DECEMBER 3: Seattle police have admitted that excessive force may have been used to put down anti-WTO protests here as thousands of demonstrators formed a human chain around the city's jail. The world trade ministers, meanwhile, worked on undisturbed in a virtual cocoon at the heart of a sealed-off city centre.

"Let them go, let them go. Free the Seattle 500," chanted 2,000 demonstrators outside King County jail south of the downtown area.

"Let's get real, storm the Bastille," was another rallying cry from the largely good-humoured crowd who had earlier marched on police lines guarding a no-protest zone around the downtown venue for global trade talks.

With hundreds of police in riot gear, backed by an armoured personnel carrier blocking their way, over 4,000 demonstrators changed direction and marched to the jail.

Most of the over 500 protesters arrested here in the last couple of days during anti-WTO demonstrations are being held in the King County jail just south of the downtownarea.

Chanting and pointing towards the barred windows of the jail which can be seen from the road, the protestors formed a human chain around the building in a peaceful movement. Inmates were seen waving back to them. This resulted in a surreal series of confrontations between police and angry residents who took to the streets in the Capitol Hill area to protest against a police push which brought the anti-WTO protests into their neighbourhood.

The scenes were in sharp contrast to pitched battles between police and demonstrators on Tuesday and Wednesday which left the city centre under a pall of tear gas.

But trade ministers from 135 countries gathered here to launch a new round of global trade liberalisation talks continued their deliberations in a cocoon of calm created by a massive police presence.

Authorities launched a tough crackdown, imposing an overnight curfew and declaring a state of emergency until the WTO meeting ends Friday.

Some demonstrators on Thursday carried banners demandingresignation of Seattle police chief Norm Stamper, blaming him for alleged police brutality and mass arrests.

Earlier on Thursday, Stamper told a press conference that an investigation would be launched into the brutality charges and "if this is found to be the case. Of course discipline will be appropriate."

He said he had witnessed incidents that had troubled him.

"I saw some circumstances troubling to me. I saw some officers breaking ranks," he said.

The zero-tolerance policy for protests has outraged demonstrators who claim that their rights to free speech are being violated by the 50-block no-protest zone imposed in the downtown area.

Only accredited WTO participants, journalists and locals with legitimate business in the area are allowed past police lines.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has mounted a legal challenge to the no-protest zone, according to local press reports.