It’s been a long, hard seven days. Once things began to heat up on Tuesday, I found myself leaping from discussion to discussion: from the White House to the Direct Action Network; from Director-General of the WTO to the President of the AFL-CIO; from community and business leaders in Capitol Hill and downtown to members of the City Council.
My thanks go to many, many people for their help in de-escalating what could have been a much worse situation. Several thousand delegates and media from 135 nations convened for the Ministerial. 40,000+ protesters took to our streets in demonstrations that were, for the most part, peaceful. The President of the United States, the Secretary General of the United Nations, the US Trade Representative, half the US Cabinet, and 40 Congressmen all attended the conference.
In the end, the right to free speech was upheld, thousands expressed their disagreements with the WTO, and the business of the conference was carried out in full. No one was killed. No one was seriously injured.
But the city is hurt. Feelings of anger, embarrassment, grief, and blame are running strong. The need to answer questions with clear facts and to carefully and objectively review what happened is imperative. We cannot heal without it. And we owe it to other cities on this planet who may well face future versions of these unprecedented circumstances.
I am therefore calling for a complete review, this week, of the security planning that led up to last week and of the incidents that took place on the streets of Seattle during the week itself. This review will involve the full coalition of law enforcement agencies that participated in creating the security plan we put in place in preparation for the WTO. The purpose is not to point fingers or lay blame, but to understand, to learn, and to move forward.
What developed on Tuesday was more than anyone expected. Protest group leaders themselves were surprised. We knew who was coming. We were well prepared for the nature of the protests and the type of civil disobedience that was to be employed. But we did not anticipate the sheer volume of protesters that would arrive vehemently committed to unlawful civil disobedience.
With an authorized organized labor march of over 35,000 going on at the same time, the mass effort to intentionally break the law by clogging streets and blocking entry to the WTO meetings meant that our public safety resources were seriously strained.
When a third group began to damage property and commit other acts of violence, our police officers were forced to choose protection of human life over protection of public property. I commend them with all my heart. Given the situation they found themselves in and the size and emotional intensity of the crowd they faced, our officers behaved with heroic restraint, professionalism, and courage.
My gratitude extends, not only to Seattle’s own officers but also to the many officers from other jurisdictions, to the National Guard who assisted us during that long, difficult week, and to the many others who stepped forward as well.
We have much to do in the coming days. All the details of what happened and at what time and under whose direction must be clarified. Rifts between communities must begin to be repaired. The air must be cleared. The city must get back to business, and begin to heal.
In fact, the healing is already underway. It began Saturday morning when this whole city poured into downtown to resume the holiday season in full Seattle color.
Last week was a test of all of us. In a different society we could have enforced a WTO Ministerial in which the delegates knew next to nothing about the opinions held by so many members of the public. But that is not our society. In a democracy we must depend on the fundamental social agreement of civil behavior. This is the hallmark of an open society. Last week it was put to the test. And it survived.
