Eleven people were arrested in Seattle on Sept. 15 after an anti-police rally turned into a riot, law enforcement officials said.
A few dozen people gathered near Denny Park for an anti-police rally around 3 p.m. before moving along 5th Avenue North, smashing windows and spraying graffiti.
“What began as an anti-police rally/demonstration turned into property damage against businesses,” the Seattle Police Department said in a statement.
As police officers began to arrest the people responsible for the damage, others tried to intervene, and also were arrested.
A livestream from downtown showed police officers on bicycles arresting some of the crowd. A number of the crowd members were dressed in the style favored by the far-left Antifa group: all-black, with faces obscured.
Officers used pepper spray during the tumult.
They recovered bear mace, a knife, and a collapsible baton from the rioters.
Ten of the rioters were booked into King County Jail on felony property damage and obstruction charges.
One person complained of an injury and was taken to the hospital for treatment, police said. The extent of the injury wasn’t clear.
A separate demonstration outside the Grand Hyatt hotel was sparked by a fake press release. The statement from the activist group 350 Seattle claimed that the hotel was offering the homeless a place to stay away from the smoky conditions due to wildfires.
The group later posted two pages they said came from “an anonymous, ad hoc collective of diverse organizers” explaining that the release was a ruse.
“We knew the Hyatt wasn’t opening rooms and that neither Seattle City nor King County Councils were funding emergency shelter,” the anonymous group said.
“It may surprise you but we don’t like to lie. In the age of misinformation, we value truth more than ever. But right now, the truth is far less believable than the lies we told.”
The group is among those who are pushing for city officials to override Mayor Jenny Durkan’s veto of a homeless strategy called JumpStart Seattle.
Hyatt told Newsweek that the hoax was an “unethical, illegal” attempt to try to get the government to act.
“Hyatt cares deeply for the Seattle community and for all the communities in which Hyatt hotels operate,” the Hyatt spokesperson said. “We are outraged that an anonymous group earlier today issued a fake press release that misled and tried to lure many of Seattle’s most vulnerable individuals to expect hotel accommodations.”
