In a political raid early in the morning on July 10, a Seattle Police Department SWAT team invaded the home of Occupy Seattle activists, serving a search warrant and confiscating a black hoodie, a pink scarf and some leaflets among other mundane items.
According to press releases issued both by the Red Spark Collective and Occupy Seattle, residents and visitors to the residence scrambled to get dressed while police armed with automatic weapons forced their way in, setting off a flash grenade in the process.
One resident later described the warrant that was handed to them: “This warrant says that they were specifically looking for ‘anarchist materials’—which lays out the political police state nature of this right there.”
The police entered by smashing the door and throwing in flash grenades. Residents got on their knees, not wishing to “test the trigger-happiness of Seattle cops,” as one told the Seattle Stranger in an interview. The two residents and two visiting guests had their hands ziptied and were taken to the living room while the police tore up their apartment. Nobody was arrested.
“They took basic stuff,” another resident said. “A zip-up sweater, one glove, a blue beanie, a pink scarf. They took a few flyers we had, one from a book release party for a book on Occupy.”
The political nature of the raid is clear from the fact that the warrant specifically listed “anarchist materials” as one of the items of interest. Since when is possession of political literature a crime?
The officer leading the raid claimed this indefensible violation of civil liberties was part of an investigation of vandalism that allegedly occurred on May Day in Seattle. The activists living in the apartment have been deeply involved in Occupy Seattle and anti-police brutality campaigns and are currently organizing a festival scheduled to take place in August.
Local police and federal agencies worked hand-in-hand on a nationwide crackdown of the Occupy movement, with cops resorting to terror tactics and brutality against Occupy activists on a number of occasions since last fall.
The SPD itself has been under investigation by the Department of Justice for use of excessive force. The investigation found that in incidents involving use of force, some 20 percent involved excessive force and violated Constitutional rights. A 2010 case in which a Latino man was stomped on the head by officer Shandy Cobane while Cobane yelled racist slurs was recently settled out of court for $150,000. Cobane remains on the job.
All progressive people should stand with the activists of Occupy Seattle and against the SPD in this politically motivated witchhunt.
