| Police excessive force seattle protest { June 3 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8517-2003Jun3.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8517-2003Jun3.html
Seattle Police Say Justified in Ending Protest
Reuters Tuesday, June 3, 2003; 3:12 PM
By Chris Stetkiewicz
SEATTLE (Reuters) - Demonstrators accused police on Tuesday of using excessive force in dispersing a crowd of up to 700 protesters with pepper spray and rubber bullets on Monday, but top officials defended the action, saying they helped prevent a riot.
Seattle's police department, which came under heavy criticism for its tactics during the 1999 World Trade Organization meetings, said its use of pepper spray and rubber bullets on Monday night was necessary because the crowd became violent during demonstrations to protest a meeting of law enforcement officials from around the country.
"These are people who came to riot. That's what they wanted," said Captain Mike Sanford of the Seattle Police Department.
Seattle police in riot gear and regular uniforms dispersed a crowd of 400 to 700 people who had gathered to protest the five-day meeting of the Law Enforcement Intelligence Unit (LEIU), a group on intelligence agents from police departments across the United States.
Police said they made 12 arrests while moving the crowd away from the hotel where the LEIU seminars are being held.
No injuries were reported to police.
Protesters, some in gas masks and bandannas, said they were peaceful and the violence was initiated by the police.
"We decided to let them get their message out when they started to throw debris. We then decided to move them out," Sanford told reporters in Westlake Park in downtown Seattle, the site of mass arrests during the 1999 WTO meetings.
Seattle's leaders and police department came under heavy criticism at the time for letting demonstrators block roads leading to the WTO meetings and then for overreacting as they reclaimed the streets.
Two news photographers were reportedly doused in pepper spray during Monday's incident.
© 2003 Reuters
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