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Compared to the 23 people who got arrested protesting the anti-LGBTQ rally at Cal Anderson in May, and 8 more who got arrested protesting the follow-up event at City Hall, it was perhaps suprising there was only 1 arrest at Gas Works yesterday (a right-wing streamer named Cam Higby was there and someone got arrested for dousing his equipment with liquid). I don’t think the main reason for the lack of arrests was that the event was moved from Cal Anderson to Gas Works. That might have meant fewer protesters, but the difference in the number of protesters was nowhere near as skewed as the difference in the number of arrests (23+8 versus 1) so that’s probably not it. What I think made the biggest difference this time is that the police didn’t try to stop protesters from gathering in a place that was visible to the attendees, which of course is the protesters’ First Amendment right. That meant people gathered and waved Pride flags and trans flags and signs on the concrete structures and on the hill just north of the stage, where people in the crowd could see them. Also, the organizers and the police didn’t appear to be controlling who could enter the event. There was a barricaded perimeter around the event area, so you couldn’t cross through from behind the stage, but as far as I could tell anybody could walk through the entrance in the west part of the perimeter: But most people didn’t bother, because if you wanted to register your disgust with the event, it was more effective to do that by gathering with the other protesters behind the stage. At the previous event at City Hall, the police were enforcing a perimeter such that not only could protesters not get near the event, they were deliberately being kept far enough away that event attendees wouldn’t even have to see them – e.g. the entire section of 4th Ave in front of City Hall was cleared out. That is not a constitutional right — you have the right to gather, but you do not have the right for your field of vision to be free of people who disagree with you. And the organizers (with the backing of the police) were enforcing exclusive use of the plaza, to the point where several of us took videos asking people “What church are you with?” before letting them in. The standard language in a permit for a Parks event says that no exclusive use of the park is allowed: And if that’s not legal even when you do have a permit, I’m pretty sure it’s illegal to do when you don’t have a permit, like they didn’t have for the City Hall event. So, when the police didn’t interfere with people’s constitutional right to protest in view of the event, the protesters got their message out and made Sean Feucht and his merry band of idiots look silly. And how else are you going to get a Seattle Times headline like this one: submitted by /u/bennetthaselton |
