OLYMPIA - An apparent anti-police arsonist entered the new City Hall, used some kind of chemical accelerant and set fire to a stack of construction materials, causing an undetermined amount of damage and setting back a $35.6 million project that had been on schedule.

Subject: Lawful First Amendment Activities and You

We know you monitor this website on a regular basis and we would like to communicate directly to you. The report you issued on March 26th 2010 (see extract below) on recent efforts by law-abiding citizens to compile information from various Washington State law enforcement agencies cannot pass without comment. You have repeatedly attempted to characterize the lawful first amendment activities of citizens as something nefarious or with ulterior motives. You pass this off as "analysis" and "warning" as a means to inflate your true value. Your attempts are then regurgitated and placed cut and paste into other daily summaries across the land. You've taken the art of pre-criminalizing to a new level Mr Chesbro.

May 2010

“Shock Force” Riot Police Assault Students and Workers

Puerto Rico: Beatings at the Sheraton

The militarized Shock Force of the Puerto Rican Police threw demonstrators to the ground, beat them with riot clubs and sprayed them with tear gas and pepper spray at the Sheraton Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on the evening of May 20. (Photo: Xavier Araújo/El Nuevo Día)

From our correspondent

SAN JUAN, May 20 – This evening, there was a picket of several hundred students of the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) and workers from a number of sectors, including port workers, university professors and many others. The picket was held in front of a fancy fundraising dinner for businessmen where Governor Luis Fortuño was to give a speech.

When several dozen students entered the luxurious restaurant of the Sheraton Hotel in the Convention Center where the event was being held and tried to go up to where the privatizing, anti-worker governor was scheduled to speak, the notorious Fuerza de Choque (Shock Force) riot squad of the Puerto Rican Police poured in and savagely beat the students, spraying pepper gas in their faces and in some cases directly into their eyes.

On Thursday April 8, students, workers, and instructors welcomed an unfamiliar face to a publicly advertised meeting for a campus-wide strike May 3rd.  A woman who identified herself simply as “Tani" described herself as an "alum" of UW still paying back student loans who was passionate about the cuts. She also said that her father worked with Waste Management and she was in the meeting to find out what the May 3rd strike committee was involved in with regards to the Teamsters' recent call for a strike.

Updated:

Around 10 pm on Thursday, about 30 participants of an anti-police brutality march were arrested by Olympia police at Adams St. and State Ave in downtown Olympia. An eye witness said the arrests were for jay-walking or marching in the street. About 30 people are there watching the police surround and arrest the estimated fifteen people. Police vehicles are diverting car traffic off of State Ave. It is not clear if jail support is organized.

This protest was in solidarity with similar protests this weekend against police brutality in towns and cities on the west coast.

Court: Olympia accused of violating Constitution

Olympian Nov. 5, 2009

TACOMA - The first civil trial stemming from the Port of Olympia protests two years ago began Wednesday with differing accounts of the encounters between the two plaintiffs and police officers.

William Hamilton and Larry Mosqueda, both of Olympia, have sued the city of Olympia and several of its police officers for allegedly violating their civil rights through the use of excessive force during separate incidents Nov. 10 and Nov. 11, 2007.

On Tuesday, July 21st, 4 local individuals were sentenced for smashing bank windows, “rioting”, and thwarting the arrests of others on May Day ’08 in Olympia. The court house in Olympia was packed with supporters. A ring of police stood between us and the judge, smirking and chatting with the prosecutor during recess.

The actual crime of this whole affair is the persistence of the state, its apologizers and witless functionaries, and the daily coercion which becomes concentrated against individuals who show resistance. This was displayed nakedly as the prosecutor and judge showed special enmity for our companero, Bryan, by ordering 120 days in jail because he held his head up during the proceedings intended for humiliation.

On July 21, 2009, the events of May Day 2008 finally came to a close with the sentencing of four anarchists of the South Sound region. For over a year they have been legally bound to endure an array of court dates, legal costs, extradition waivers, etc. All this has stemmed from some debatable interactions with banks that have since then had a wide impact on the Olympia activist and broader communities.