Mayor Ed Murray blamed the "senseless violence" in Seattle on a
"different crowd" from those who had attended an earlier peaceful May
Day immigration march, however.
Five Seattle
police officers were injured and at least nine people arrested on Sunday
night, after unruly demonstrators hurled projectiles and Molotov cocktails and broke windows, authorities said.
Protesters
gather every year on May 1 to focus attention on labor and immigration
issues, but demonstrators in cities across the United States also used the occasion to rally against police violence.
Mayor
Ed Murray blamed the "senseless violence" in Seattle on a "different
crowd" from those who had attended an earlier peaceful May Day
immigration march, however.
It was "deeply
regrettable that in a city that goes to incredible lengths to respect
First Amendment rights, there are some who disregard our values and
engage in senseless acts of violence and property destruction," he said later, referring to free speech protected by the U.S. Constitution.
In
posts on social media website Twitter, the Seattle police department
said one officer had suffered a cut to the head as protesters hurled
Molotov cocktails, another was hit by a rock, and a third officer was
bitten, apparently by a protester.
Injuries suffered by two more officers were not detailed.
"Nobody has been seriously injured," police chief Kathleen O'Toole said after the unrest subsided, adding, "Once assaults started and property damage started, we took action. It's that simple."
Police
said they made arrests in several places and restrained one group in a
parking lot, before allowing some groups to disperse, but would maintain
a presence in the area.
They charged three people
with assault, one with destruction of property and five with
obstruction of justice. Eight men ranging in age from about 20 to 32
were charged, along with a teen-aged girl.
Police
used "blast balls" to disperse a crowd throwing rocks and bottles and
breaking windows in a downtown neighborhood, the Seattle Times newspaper
reported, after they used pepper spray several times to break up
throngs of demonstrators.
The unrest mirrored
violence at a Seattle May Day march last year, when crowds threw bottles
and wrenches at police, who responded with pepper spray and flash
grenades.
Sixteen people were arrested and three
officers hurt in that violence, which similarly erupted after a day of
peaceful demonstrations.
إرسال تعليق