‘On the right side of history’: 70,000 join peaceful No Kings protest in Seattle before unrest flared up after dark

More than 70,000 people turned out for the “No Kings” protest that started at Cal Anderson Park at 12 p.m. Saturday before marching to the city’s downtown neighborhood.

The Seattle Police Department (SPD) reported that the line of protesters was more than 1.5 miles long. Police also reported there was not a single report of property damage during the daytime demonstration.

“Once again, whenever there has been a mass protest and a bunch of people are protesting about a topic, they have never been wrong. They have always been on the right side of history,” KIRO host Gee Scott said. “That’s where we are right now. There is no both sides. There will be people, a lot, that are on the wrong side of history, and there will be people on the right side of history, just like in the Civil Rights movement, just like in the early 1900s, there are people that are literally on the wrong side of history.”

The Cal Anderson protest and march was one of dozens of “No Kings” rallies held throughout the Puget Sound area and one of more than 1,000 demonstrations nationwide.

Late-night demonstration stains earlier protests

“We checked in with Seattle Police again (Monday) morning to see if there were any arrests on Saturday, and they emphasized that during the day, everything was peaceful,” KIRO host Ursula Reutin said. “At night, they said there was, and this is my words now, a small group of hooligans who caused damage downtown. There were some arrests, but according to SPD, they said those folks had nothing to do with the earlier peaceful protests.”

Small fires sprouted up, with trash and public city bikes being dragged into the flames. Roads near the downtown Seattle Target were blocked by barricades set up by protesters. Surrounding downtown buildings and cars were targeted for vandalism and graffiti throughout the night.

During the late-night protest, a person on a motorcycle with a flaming torch helped set a box on fire, which was then rushed to the entrance of the Henry M. Jackson Federal Building, according to SDOT footage obtained by KIRO 7.

Antifa was also spotted during the late-night protest.

“I do know that when you wrestle with a pig and you win, you still get dirty,” Gee said. “And ultimately, I just foresee this continuing. There will be National Guard deployed, Marines deployed. President Trump has already talked about increasing his attention and focus on raids on the cities that did not vote for him.”

In Tukwila, tensions escalated even further. Police deployed tear gas after several blockades were set in the afternoon during protests, deterring traffic throughout parts of the city.

“This is very hard because if you just take 100 people, and 99 out of the 100 are doing what they’re supposed to do, not causing any type of violence, then you have one person, it takes just one person to throw something at the law enforcement or do something outrageous, then it becomes a problem,” Gee said. “To the police officers, I want to tell you respectfully, I understand and appreciate what you have to do out there. It can’t be easy. I know it has to be hard. I know that you don’t want to go to work every single day. We wish all of this wasn’t happening, but you do have some bad actors that are out here.”

“I don’t have a problem with how Tukwila Police responded because they started acting up. They had to do it,” Ursula added. “If you’re starting to throw things at officers, they’re going to respond. I don’t think you and I have an issue with that.”

Listen to the full conversation here.

Listen to Gee and Ursula on “The Gee and Ursula Show” weekday mornings from 9 am to 12 pm on KIRO Newsradio.