Protestors calling for ceasefire block lanes to march in downtown Seattle
SEATTLE (KOMO) — Protestors calling for a cease-fire in Gaza were blocking lanes as they marched through downtown Seattle on Saturday afternoon.
Protestors initially started their demonstration at Westlake Center before moving southbound on 1st Avenue. 1st Avenue could be seen blocked at several intersections as protestors marched.
Police told KOMO News that the group was continuing to march by Pike Place Market and further. KOMO News crews saw the protest end at around 4 p.m. at the Amazon Spheres.
Spokespersons for the protest estimated the total number of people who participated throughout the afternoon to be in the thousands. By the time of the protest’s conclusion, it appeared there were a couple hundred still left.
Hossam Nasr was one of those leading the pro-Palestine chants during the march.
“We came here to show that the people of Seattle stand with Palestine. Especially when Israel started already bombing Rafah, where 1.5 million people are trapped and is threatening a ground invasion that every single human rights organization, UN organization, and even the United States Government, which has stayed firmly behind Israel’s genocidal campaign for over four months, is also warning against,” said Nasr.
A flier being handed out at the protest states that Google and Amazon are in a $1.2 billion contract with the Israeli government and the military. Protestors on Saturday said they were marching against Google and Amazon’s involvement.
This is yet another pro-Palestine protest that has happened in Seattle since the start of the conflict. The goal continues of protestors to disrupt business and transportation in an attempt to get their point across.
In January, protestors blocked Interstate 5 in Seattle for hours, which is illegal.
At the time, action by law enforcement was not initially taken and the protestors were allowed to continue and conclude the demonstration on the interstate.
However, Washington State Patrol has now referred criminal charges on people they said were involved. WSP gave an update on Friday in a news release that puts the number of those facing charges to 12.
The charges include the following: second-degree criminal trespass, failure to disperse, disorderly conduct and obstruction.
“As with the first set of referred charges announced last week, all have been referred to the King Cou(n)ty Prosecutor’s Office who will make the final determination on what can be filed based on the evidence,” WSP’s Chris Loftis said in a statement.
Nasr was asked about the charges on Saturday at the protest and said “the more they try to silence us, the louder our voice becomes. And the fact that we had one of the biggest attended marches for Palestine in Seattle since the start of the genocide, proves this.”
KOMO News asked Nasr if he’s worried about getting in trouble, “I worry more about my tax dollars funding a genocide,” he added, “it does not scare me. It’s not going to stop me from protesting.”
Taylor Young, another protestor, said “we’re kind of sick of the media coverage of these protests. Every single time we’re out here for example on the emergency meeting for Rafah, the news articles didn’t mention that there were one and a half million Palestinians being bombed. They talked about the protestors being arrested. Why aren’t you talking about the war criminals? Why aren’t you calling out them?”
It does not appear at this time that any arrests were made by Seattle police for the blocking of downtown streets on Saturday. KOMO News asked SPD and plan to update if that information changes.
It also does not appear this will be the last protest that disrupts Seattle.
“We will never stop showing up for Palestine. We will never stop making clear that there can never be ‘business as usual’ under genocide,” Nasr said.
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