Washington (state) May Day - Seattle, where will you be?

K14

K14

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We have a couple of choices this year. We could celebrate the spring holiday peacefully in Fremont or hang out with Council member Kshama Sawant at the Trump rally. I'm sure we'll see some lively activity either way.

Are you shooting? Does anyone care to meetup and shoot as a group?

What is your best weapon (camera) to take? I'm thinking my Hasbladski Kiev88 with a 45mm Mir26b. Either that or my beat up F2.

Should be fun...
 
Any specifics like a link to Sawant's rally? I'm guessing the usual 5:00pm around Westlake center area? If I find the time I would definitely choose an F2 and get some shots.
 
My thoughts too. I checked her twitter and FB pages, she mentions the event but gives no specifics.

However given the theme of May Day most groups participating will be on the same topic.

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I'll be following the ANTIFA crowd and hoping to document police arrests and de-masking of the members. I suspect that the police may be more active this year in the Trump era.
 
...... with two officers recently shot downtown they may be a little bit on edge and hopefully everybody stays cool.
 
We'll see who stays cool. I'm betting that the Seattle Police department isn't going to put up with the anarchists this year. Handcuffs for those that choose to break the law. I'll be there to document the lawless, ANTIFA, anarchist beta males.
 
By the way, anybody going to Seattle to photograph the riots planned there, be careful after dark. I believe this year's riots are being planned to be very violent and disruptive.

Kshama Sawant, a Seattle City Council member, has introduced a bill and it was passed by the Council, to give Seattle workers the day off to participate in the "march." She has called for the people to disrupt business and the ports and airports and freeways. She states this is the only way the people can advance their agenda against the billionaire class and Trump.

Sawant is basically calling for violent behavior. So, be careful and have a plan if you are going to wade into the crowds and try and get some pictures. For me, I'd bring a telephoto. :)
 
...I'll be at work. Long hours most of this year means I've missed most of the interesting shooting opportunities. And to be honest, I'd be tempted this year to focus on the 99% peaceful protestors and not the tiny minority of self proclaimed anarchist/rioters. They already get a massively disproportionate amount of coverage. Mix in the growing Antifa group and it could get ugly quickly.

Edit: It'll be interesting to see how the police handle this rioters this year. After they shepherded them on the long march industrial district last year, I imagine the black bloc types may not be as wiling to be corralled. It was definitely a stronger response than in past years and I imagine the police will continue the crackdown on the small rioting element compared to years past.
 
LightBender said:
By the way, anybody going to Seattle to photograph the riots planned there, be careful after dark. I believe this year's riots are being planned to be very violent and disruptive.

Kshama Sawant, a Seattle City Council member, has introduced a bill and it was passed by the Council, to give Seattle workers the day off to participate in the "march." She has called for the people to disrupt business and the ports and airports and freeways. She states this is the only way the people can advance their agenda against the billionaire class and Trump.

Sawant is basically calling for violent behavior. So, be careful and have a plan if you are going to wade into the crowds and try and get some pictures. For me, I'd bring a telephoto. :)
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Well, no, she didn't. She introduced and the Council passed a resolution allowing City employees to take the day off for May Day. It's an unpaid day off, so I don't expect to see a lot of people streaming out of Gateway Tower, or whatever they call that thing these days. She has encouraged people to participate in the (peaceful) workers/immigrants march in the early afternoon, and hasn't called for anyone to "disrupt business and the ports and airports and freeways," or to engage in any violent behavior.

If the back bloc show up at dusk and try their usual stunts, they'll likely be corralled by the bicycle cops and escorted on another Long March like last year, possibly to a part of town they haven't seen before (Interbay, maybe). Like most anarchists, their organizational skills suck.
 
Chuck, she did introduce the bill and she did, several weeks ago, make the remarks about protesting and shutting down the ports and that demonstration against business and billionaires and Trump are the only way the people can have their agenda heard or realized or something like that. I heard the words from her mouth. And, yes, what she was suggesting will very likely become violent.

So, everyone just be careful and aware of the tenor of the march and of course the riot that will take place after the march. That's all.


Edit: Brian, thanks for that link and that is pretty much what I was saying.
 
Brian Legge said:
It may be a reference to:

http://www.king5.com/mb/news/local/...port-freeway-disruptions-on-may-day/433834693

I'm trying not to drag this in to a political discussion but for those planning to photograph the event, it may be worth keeping an eye on her circles.
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I stand corrected (partially) - she *did* say that some non-violent actions are on the table, and specifically referenced the sit-in at the airport to protest the Muslim ban as an example. But it's a mistake to link her statements with the likelihood of violent behavior on May Day. The black bloc dimwits will show up for their tired window-smashing, and occasional dumpster-torching, regardless of what councilmember Sawant calls for. I'll pass on photographing that part of the day, and besides you'd have to fight your way through a mob of smartphone-wielding trendos just to get a decent angle - last year, I think they outnumbered the anarchists. I had enough of tear gas and flash-bangs during WTO week, when I shot some stuff heading for the bus at the end of each day (thank God for TMax 3200!).

The immigrants' march in the afternoon has been quite moving in the past couple of years, just by the sheer size of it. It would be a pity if the numbers were down this year due to fear.
 
I prefer the elegant protests of Women Suffragettes, Ghandi, the Civil Rights Movement. Which probably got a lot more accomplished than today's masked Marxist thugs' new Kristallnacht. Not hard to tell who the real fascists are.

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Yep, it went about as I expected. Violent, disruptive and street warfare is not "protest" or "march", it's an attempt to hurt people and things and get off on it. "Authorities said the group of Portland anarchists were wearing black bandanas and ski masks and began breaking windows at businesses, setting fires on downtown streets and damaging a police cruiser." There are pictures of them, unmasked of course, by the Portland police online.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/05/0...an-40-arrests-made-in-nationwide-marches.html

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