LOCAL NEWS
Black Lives Matter protesters gather at Westlake Center
Nov 25, 2016, 6:40 AM | Updated: Sep 27, 2017, 3:59 pm
Black Friday protesters take their demonstration into the streets of downtown Seattle, with police following on bicycles in 2016. (SDOT)
(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.
