29 arrested in Olympia during anti-police protest

AP

9 04 2010

OLYMPIA, Wash. — Police arrested 29 people after an anti-police march in Olympia Thursday night turned violent.

Cmdr. Tor Bjornstad said Friday that officers were monitoring about three-dozen people dressed in black, wearing masks and calling themselves anarchists. The group started marching downtown about 7 p.m. Thursday, chanting obscenities at the police.

By 9 p.m., they had spray-painted the camera of a photographer for The Olympian and tried to take the camera and his cell phone, Bjornstad said. They also spray-painted buildings, broke windows and threw newspaper boxes into the street.

Officers surrounded the group and made the arrests.

Two officers were hit — one in the head and one in the groin — and those two attackers were booked for investigation of felony assault, Bjornstad said.

Two people who attacked the photographer were booked for investigation of assault.

The rest were booked for investigation of riotous conduct and released overnight with charges referred to the prosecutor.

Bjornstad said there was no identifiable group responsible for the demonstration, but most of the marchers are college age. He said it may be related to similar protests in Portland, where hundreds have marched through downtown streets in recent weeks to decry two fatal shootings by officers.

31 demonstrators arrested. anti-police rally: Two ordered held in jail on felony assault charges

theolympian.com

JEREMY PAWLOSKI; Staff writer

April 10, 2010

OLYMPIA – A woman arrested on suspicion of kicking a police officer in the groin during Thursday night’s anti-police rally downtown told an officer, “The last time an officer said I assaulted him the charge got dismissed, no contest. My mom has a lot of money, my friend,” court papers state.

Read more: http://www.theolympian.com/2010/04/10/1201486/31-demonstrators-arrested.html#ixzz0khbrW6nC

The woman, Margaret Belknap, 22, and Paul French, 25, were ordered held at the Thurston County Jail with bail set at $2,500 during a court hearing Friday, a day after their arrests on suspicion of third-degree felony assault of a police officer. Belknap has denied wrongdoing.

According to court papers:

French is accused of hitting an Olympia police officer in the face, and Belknap is accused of kicking an Olympia officer in the “upper right inside thigh near his groin” and kicking him in the knee while wearing black “military type” boots.

French is scheduled to walk during graduation ceremonies for students at The Evergreen State College in June. He has worked off and on as a land surveyor.

Belknap is a former Evergreen student. She was arrested in San Francisco in 2009 on three counts of third-degree assault, but the case was dismissed after she completed a diversion program.

Twenty-nine other people were arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor crimes during Thursday night’s anti-police march in downtown Olympia.

Jami Williams, 20, was arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor assault and vandalism after allegedly assaulting Tony Overman, a photographer for The Olympian. Overman said protesters spray-painted his face and camera as he took a photo of someone spray-painting a street sign. He said protesters also shoved him, wrested control of his cell phone and attempted to smash it on the ground.

The 28 other protesters were arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor riot.

Everyone arrested on suspicion of misdemeanors had been released from the Olympia Municipal Jail as of Friday morning.

The march consisted of a large group of people clad in black with their faces covered in hoods and scarves. Some protesters wear such clothing so police won’t recognize them. The march began on Olympia’s west side and continued down the Fourth Avenue Bridge to downtown Olympia.

The purpose of the march was to protest alleged police brutality, including recent officer-involved shootings in Portland. Leaflets passed out during the protest also cited the 2008 fatal shooting of Jose Ramirez-Jimenez by Olympia police officers as a reason for the protest.

The Thurston County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office deemed Ramirez-Jimenez’s fatal shooting justified. According to police reports, the officers involved in the shooting described Ramirez-Jimenez reaching for something in his vehicle during a standoff. They also said Ramirez-Jimenez ignored their orders to show his hands. Ramirez-Jimenez was fatally shot at the end of a high-speed police chase in Lacey. Police were trying to pull over Ramirez-Jimenez’s vehicle because it matched a vehicle used in a drive-by shooting of a pedestrian earlier in the evening.

After that shooting, police found methamphetamine and a 9 mm semi-automatic pistol in Ramirez-Jimenez’s vehicle. Forensic tests later identified the pistol as the firearm used in the drive-by shooting of Joshua Eden earlier that evening. Eden said in an interview last year that he has a 13-inch steel rod in his leg as a result of the shooting.

Olympia Police Lt. Ray Holmes said police would not have interrupted Thursday night’s protest had it remained peaceful. But there were numerous reports that protesters were breaking the law by throwing bottles and rocks at buildings, spray-painting property and dragging trash containers into the streets, blocking traffic, he said.

Police blocked the march at Adams and State streets about 9:15 p.m. Thursday and arrested some of the protesters.

Police reports obtained by The Olympian contain more details about the protest and the response by Olympia police. According to the reports:

• About 8:45 p.m., one protester was witnessed spray-painting “Kill Cops” on a large utility transformer box owned by Puget Sound Energy after passing the Heritage Park fountain.

• A citizen called 911 about 8:50 p.m. to report that members of the group spray-painted the wooden front doors of the New Caledonia building at 116 Fifth Ave. The building houses a police substation. An officer observed an anarchy symbol and the words “(expletive) cops” spray-painted on the door.

• Also about 8:50 p.m., some protesters threw a rock at First Citizens Bank on Fifth Avenue, breaking a window.

• Officers saw protesters throwing rocks at the Manium building at 421 Fourth Ave., breaking windows there.

• Police blocked the group at State and Adams. A skirmish broke out when police tried to detain Williams, “who had already been identified as the suspect responsible for assaulting Tony Overman.”

• Police collected several cameras and a digital recorder while booking the suspects at the Olympia Municipal Jail. Many of the items “displayed stickers indicating they were the property of The Evergreen State College” and were “seized as possible evidence.”

In addition to the two people arrested on suspicion of felony assault and the woman arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor assault, the following were arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor riot during:

Jami Williams, 20; Tom McGuire, 21; Peter McCoy, 24; Matthew Duran, 21; Gabriel Sisson, 21; Danielle Shook, 25; Alex Barton, 20; Claire Price, 23; Calvin Evans, 21; William Sclabassi, 20; Nora McKinnon, 20; Ruth Kodish-Esklund, 20; Martha Henderson, age unavailable; Lee Duffy, 25; Emily Weisberg, 19; Ashley Fleming, 20; Vanessa Lombardi, 23; Sarah Still, 21; Rebecca Tuttle, 23; Kristy Keeley, 21; Patrick Gould, 23; Matthew Pfeifer, 20; Alexander Bryan, 20; Steven Jablonski, 21; William Turner, 20; Eric Sullivan, 25; Kamuran Chabuk, 24; Bonnie Weaver, 21.

Jeremy Pawloski: 360-754-5465

Read more: http://www.theolympian.com/2010/04/10/1201486/31-demonstrators-arrested.html#ixzz0khbcGz5j

29 arrested as Olympia protest turns violent

kgw.com

April 9, 2010

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — Police say a protest march in Olympia Thursday night turned into a riot.

KIRO-TV reports Olympia police arrested 29 people.

The march started with about three-dozen people protesting police violence. They were dressed in black with their faces covered.

Police say they blocked traffic, assaulted a news photographer and broke windows.

Information from: KIRO-TV, htthttp://www.kirotv.com/index.html

Protests: 29 arrested in Olympia, 5 in Seattle

seattletimes.nwsource.com

April 9, 2010

Officers arrested five people during an anti-police march in Seattle, a day after 29 people were taken into custody during a protest in Olympia.

OLYMPIA, Wash. — Officers arrested five people during an anti-police march in Seattle, a day after 29 people were taken into custody during a protest in Olympia.

Seattle Police spokeswoman Renee Witt said the five were arrested during a march in the Capitol Hill neighborhood Friday afternoon for investigation of crimes ranging from trespassing to inciting a riot.

On Thursday night, 29 people were arrested after an anti-police march in Olympia turned violent. Police Cmdr. Tor Bjornstad said the march involved about three-dozen people dressed in black, wearing masks and calling themselves anarchists. The group spray-painted the camera of a photographer for The Olympian newspaper, broke windows and threw newspaper boxes into the street.

Bjornstad said there was no identifiable group responsible for the demonstration, but most of the marchers were college age. He said it may be related to similar protests in Portland, Ore., where hundreds have marched through downtown streets in recent weeks to decry two fatal shootings by officers.

~ par Alain Bertho sur 10 avril 2010.

Publié dans émeutes, riots