Black Lives Matter protesters gather at Westlake Center
Nov 25, 2016, 6:40 AM | Updated: Sep 27, 2017, 3:59 pm
(SDOT)
About 1,000 Black Lives Matter protesters gathered at Westlake Center for a Black Friday demonstration at 1 p.m.
In what has become an annual event for downtown Seattle, demonstrators use the kickoff to holiday shopping to make a statement about racism in America, and highlight incidents of unarmed black individuals that have been shot and killed by police.
The event is organized by Black Freedom Front – Seattle. KIRO 7 Natasha Chen noted that at the start of the demonstration, it already appeared to have more participants than the previous year.
By 2 p.m. the demonstrators took their protest to the downtown streets, marching up and down Pike Street. Seattle police officers on bike followed the march.
By 3:15 p.m. marchers had made their way into the Zara store at Westlake Center and occupied it.
The protest appeared to have ended just before 6 p.m. KIRO 7 reports no arrests were made.