In the world-famous WTO protests in Seattle in late 1999, the demonstrators (30,000 to 65,000 people, depending on whose estimate you chose to believe) consisted mostly of unions, churches, and environmental organizations, all determined that the protest be a peaceful one. Most of these organizations had checked with the city ahead of time and had march permits. Aware of the potential for trouble, most of these organizations had their own monitors to make sure that none of their members got too "enthusiastic" in their protesting. Things were proceeding peaceably (a few small skirmishes here and there, mostly initiated by police in riot gear, themselves getting a bit too "enthusiastic").

What caused all hell to break loose was when a small group of people, not affiliated with any of these organizations, began smashing windows and starting fires. They were soon joined by a group of masked, self-proclaimed "anarchists" who said they were from some sort of commune in Oregon and readily admitted that they had come to Seattle with the intention of causing trouble. Then other individuals, also not affiliated with any of the unions, churches, or environmental organizations, joined in just for the hell of it. There were about 200 real rioters in all. The police, wound up like a tight spring and out the control of their supervisors, waded into the crowd of peaceful protesters and started busting heads, firing rubber bullets, and throwing tear-gas grenades. At that point, some of the peaceful protesters ceased being peaceful.

The riot moved from downtown Seattle up to Capitol Hill, to within a few blocks of where I live. My wife and I, watching the proceedings on television, could hear yelling and what sounded like gunshots down on Broadway, four blocks away. Some people on 12th Avenue East were sprayed with tear gas by police when they stepped out on their porches to see what all the racket was about. We live on 13th Avenue East. We saw that on live television, so Barbara and I stayed put.

A lot of this was shown live on television. Several policemen wound up in very deep doo-doo later when charges were brought against them by people who were merely trying to stay out of the way were brutally assaulted. One news cameraman caught a policeman kicking a man in the crotch while he was trying to back away, and another video camera caught a policeman reaching into a car and spraying two women with tear gas. The two women had unknowingly driven into the scene of the riot, couldn't turn around, and had parked, trying to stay out of the way. These days you can often catch that sort of thing on videotape.

About two-hundred goons turned a peaceful protest by an impressive thirty- to sixty-five thousand people into a riot. The Powers That Be behind the WTO, and others, were happy to dismiss the whole thing as "mob violence." Had the protest preceded as planned, it would have been a powerful statement that could not have been ignored.

When feelings run high, it's not difficult for a very few people to turn a peaceful protest into a riot. Now, I'm not much for conspiracy theories, but I've always wondered who the first window-smashers and fire-setters might have been.

Don Firth