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Dear Seattle City Council,
Going into the week of events around the World Trade
Organization's meeting, the City of Seattle made several gestures
welcoming labor's demonstrations and the free speech of other
protesters. The ILWU and labor in general felt legitimized and
part of a democratic process.
But early in the morning of Tuesday, November 30,
hours before a handful of agitators started smashing windows, police
began tear-gassing demonstrators. Police tactics escalated from there.
Unionists, environmentalists and other social justice
activists engaging in nonviolent, Constitutionally-protected expressions
of opposition were treated by law enforcement personnel as if they were
in a police state. The indiscriminate use of tear gas rubber
bullets, arrests and other excessive force were unconscionable.
The imposition of the curfew and the no-protest zone, the inhumane
treatment of those arrested and the assault on the Capitol Hill
neighborhood were outrageous violations of people's Constitutional
rights.
This systematic suspension of the protesters'
Constitutional rights continued at the same time the WTO ministers in
the Convention Center were perpetrating violent acts against workers and
the environment everywhere.
The ILWU hopes city officials will investigate all
the allegations of governmental overreaction and police misconduct and
take appropriate action to right these wrongs.
Sincerely,
Brian McWilliams
International President
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