UPDATE: 1 arrest as protest ends Seattle Port Commission meeting

| Port of Seattle | West Seattle news

2:41 PM: Seattle Port Commissioners‘ meeting ended early and abruptly this afternoon after protesters in the chambers started chanting “MUR-DE-RERS.” Because of midday breaking news, we couldn’t leave the desk to go downtown, so we were monitoring via the video feed – which was cut shortly after the chanting began. The commission had not yet gotten to general public comments but had instead gone through its “consent agenda” and a variety of briefings on items unrelated to Terminal 5/Foss/Shell. The only reporter we’ve found tweeting from Port HQ on the downtown waterfront, Sydney Brownstone of The Stranger, reports that police cleared the chambers; she has tweeted a photo showing officers, some with bicycles, on the Port HQ front steps, blocking its doors.

ADDED 3:35 PM: Port of Seattle spokesperson Peter McGraw tells WSB that one person was arrested for trespassing and says one officer was assaulted. And he confirms the meeting was adjourned (and will not resume today).

Ron Swanson June 9, 2015 (3:21 pm)

Nice to see these protesters continue their extremely effective efforts to win hearts and minds with well thought out rhetoric.

I usually fill up at Costco, but I think I’ll stop by the Shell on the way home instead.

West Seattle Hipster June 9, 2015 (3:37 pm)

To what murders are the protesters referring to?

The protesters need a better PR firm, from what I can see in the media, their tactics are not winning over the majority of the public.

WSB June 9, 2015 (3:43 pm)

Scott’s comment came in as I was starting a reply to WSH – in addition to what he writes, as reported on Ms. Brownstone’s Twitter feed, the meeting also was preceded by a “die-in” outside by Pacific Islander and Filipino activists referring to weather disasters in the Pacific. https://twitter.com/sydbrownstone/status/608357819662888961
- WSB June 9, 2015 (3:48 pm)
  
  Added: More on the die-in etc. on the ShellNo FB page:
  https://www.facebook.com/shellnoactioncouncil/posts/1645790265652764
  .
  Re: Well Shoot on departure date: It has been declared/reported/etc. that the departure window opens tomorrow, and that Shell’s fleet has to be under way (the Noble Discoverer drillship remains at Everett and has yet to come to T-5) by month’s end, because of weather/ice conditions.

Scott M.X. Turner June 9, 2015 (3:39 pm)

I was in the chambers. The chair, Stephanie Bowman, was tightly-wound from the outset, with a zero tolerance for any mutterings from the crowd.

Very, very sporadically there would be spoken dissent regarding reports being given (the Port’s support for the Trans Pacific Partnership, Commissioner Albro’s self-congratulatory backslapping). Bowman chided the assemblage.

This all climaxed when a man in the back shouted an obscenity and with a snarl, Bowman slammed down her gavel (she has a gavel?!) and the meeting was over.

It was at that point that the crowd began its “Murderers” chant. The feed, as you indicated, was cut very Soviet-style.

This is what viewers at home missed:

For ten minutes, a People’s Meeting with mic-checks was held…a South Asian activist told, through tears, of global warming’s terrible toll in India, where the record heat wave has killed thousands…a gentlemen attempted to read an eight-charge Citizens’ Arrest Warrant…and finally, Port police (indistinguishable from SPD) pushed into the room with an aggro that has come to define police in this era.

One elderly man refused to leave and may have been arrested. The police exacerbated the tensions both inside the meeting room, in the lobby, and on the steps outside.

The commissioners showed deplorably thin-skins. While I believe they were willing to suffer the wilting criticisms, I’m convinced they were looking for the slightest excuse to end the meeting prematurely.

And for what it’s worth, the Shell rig and it’s violation of the city’s permitting procedures wasn’t even on the agenda. The port is in violation of city law and the issue wasn’t even considered vital enough for the commissioners to discuss.

well shoot June 9, 2015 (3:42 pm)

I will never fill up at Shell, however, I do have to admit that the choice of chant was not-so-good. But I just remind myself that it isn’t about the protestors lack of rhetorical panache that is really relevant, but rather it *is* about the high-level discussions with Shell stockholders and Wall Street Energy Fund managers and assorted governing bodies that is relevant. Perspective on the Big Picture people.

Oh, well. I was told this AM that the rig entourage is heading out of the Port next week. I don’t know if that was true, but it was from somebody who was locked out of T5 for awhile (golly, a whole hour) early this am, so maybe they knew fact from fiction.

I just hope Ms. Sally Jewel, former petroleum engineer, got this right. There will be no forgiveness if they blow it.

Nora June 9, 2015 (4:29 pm)

Well maybe I am glad I needed that filling today. This was happening right about the time I normally leave work. The Port and my employer share a pier. Shudder to think of the hassle it would have been to get home.

GoBacktoWork June 9, 2015 (4:37 pm)

Awesome, the police finally arrested someone for breaking the law! Now if they can just continue this momentum we can all get along with our lives and maybe someone can actually start some meaningful change (the right way). I am glad my tax dollars are finally being put to good use and laws that are on the books are being enforced. If you don’t like they law, then lobby your local politicians to have it changed, but don’t willingly break it with the justification that “the ends justify the means”…

Lisa Morrow June 9, 2015 (4:43 pm)

Scott is correct. The chanting began AFTER the meeting was abruptly adjourned, and the police were very, very quick to start shoving people around…..things deteriorated from there. I had left the room before Jack was arrested, but apparently that was intentional on his part as he refused to leave the room. Another police-instigated shoving scuffle happened on the step outside.

jetcitydude June 9, 2015 (4:55 pm)

Everyone needs petra to get around with, so let’s not be hypocrites.

Perspective June 9, 2015 (5:29 pm)

&GoBacktoWork

Are you referring to law breaking by the oil companies on the enverinmental permitting or the possible law breaking by the citizen activists?

Try reading your comment frim each perspective? Fascinating.

Felix June 9, 2015 (5:56 pm)

The Murderer chant may refer to Royal Dutch Shell and heir collusion with the Nigerian govt to steal land and in some cases kill people who refused to leave. Shell is a Baaad company….I wonder how the RDS supporters when the inevitable arctic spill happens.. If I had my way, all you supported would be forced to go help mop it up…a guy can dream can’t he…

GoBacktoWork June 9, 2015 (5:56 pm)

Perspective, trust me, I’m referring to protesters that are violating the law (whether it be noise ordinances from their barge off Alki, their unlawful obstruction of public roads, or their refusal to disperse when instructed). I am all for protesting, but do it in a way that is legal. Citizens without a political ax to grind have a right to live their lives and be protected under the same legal system that governs peaceful protest. I am certainly not referring to political grandstanding by the mayor, city council or county executive over another government entity that they don’t have jurisdiction to regulate. If the city/county politicians have a problem with Shell, then should handle it the right way, not through technicalities that are generally ignored, overlooked,unenforceable or usually easy to correct.

Rick June 9, 2015 (5:58 pm)

@Perspective, I suppose that all depends on your perspective.

Rick June 9, 2015 (5:59 pm)

@Perspective, I suppose that all depends on your perspective. And I’ll give you a break as I know the “i” is next to the “o”.

Felix June 9, 2015 (6:07 pm)

..and for all you folks using the tired mantra..”they’re creating jobs”…So does the illegal drug trade….

Scott M.X. Turner June 9, 2015 (6:52 pm)

link to a video of the meeting’s aftermath. Police aggression kicks in at 9:20.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7QS-5iAmZ8

J9remix June 9, 2015 (7:16 pm)

Those protesters are there fighting for your children’s children. Shell destroyed the Niger delta and don’t care about you or your children’s children. These are planet defenders fighting for our planet. I’m one of them. Some are young and angry that they would be left with a dead planet. Shell will spill it’s 75% sure thing an they are applying for a noise permit to transmit deafening noises under water. They are requesting, from NOAA to disturb 3 Sea mammals on the ESL. So go get your gas at She’ll. Your children will hate you

Paul June 9, 2015 (7:36 pm)

These protesters are turning me into a fan of Shell! Today they protested at Terminal 5, totally filling up the Chelan Cafe parking lot, reducing revenue for this small business. These individuals have every right to express their opinions but are not doing so in a respectful way as to engender support from others.

DP June 9, 2015 (8:15 pm)

@ Paul – let me get this straight: you’re turning into “a fan of Shell!” because the protestors are reducing revenue of a local business? Good to know that people out there find more concern in the one-day plight of a small business than the lives lost as a result of said company conducting business as usual.

blanchus June 9, 2015 (8:21 pm)

The issue seems to be that one part of our society is starting to believe that runaway consumption, including oil consumption, is a threat to our survival. Others don’t feel it, so the protesters seem off base.

But if you’re starting to sense that things are heading in the wrong direction, then the protesters suddenly seem very tame.

JOO June 9, 2015 (8:23 pm)

There are whiners and doers. The whiners just complain about the injustice while the doers find a way to make the changes that truly improve society. Just protesting is not the answer. If people put that much effort on work on solutions we would need as much oil. Protesting is reactionary.

I. Ponder June 9, 2015 (9:20 pm)

I’ve been wondering where our Seattle-based Alaska fisherman stand on Arctic drilling. If Shell is allowed to drill in the Arctic, once there’s an oil spill, it will be their livelyhoods that are affected first. Just as in the Gulf where shrimp fishermen were injured by the BP disaster. Are our Alaska fishermen busy fishing, or just apathetic? Meanwhile, younger activists are doing the heavy lifting and getting all the flak.

Cedar June 9, 2015 (10:18 pm)

Not all the activists who are doing the “heavy lifting” are younger – 5 out of 6 people arrested today are grandmothers!

WSB June 9, 2015 (10:25 pm)

Cedar, we made that point yesterday … but please note, no one was arrested today. We checked that with police, because we were on scene throughout the morning. The Grannies were interviewed and released – no citations, no actual arrests. There was one arrest at this event (the commission meeting & what happened afterward), and from what I’ve heard (also check the video that was linked earlier in this comment thread), the person who was arrested was an elder too. – TR

wb June 9, 2015 (10:19 pm)

@JOO let’s hear about some of the doing. Because most of the apathetic just blithely drive their bloated SUVs and try to ridicule those who protest.

Cedar June 9, 2015 (10:27 pm)

I agree that it’s good to go through legal channels first, and persistently. But if those efforts fail repeatedly, and you have elected officials making deals that affect all of us in secret and corporations flouting the law, and the stakes are high (it’s 84 degrees in Seattle in early June, and there’s no snowpack, have you noticed?), sometimes concerned citizens have to take a stand in a way that is peaceful but illegal. Sometimes that is inconvenient. How inconvenient will it be when parts of West Seattle, Harbor Island, and Georgetown flood regularly, as predicted? How many times have corporations broken the laws flagrantly over the past 5-10 years, and how many times have they been held accountable?

Joanie Mitchell June 10, 2015 (6:51 am)

I am very sympathetic to the activist’ cause, but so very tired of their hackneyed tactics. It’s not 1960 anymore, and this is not Berkeley, so my advice to them is to stop trying to relive your youth.

And here’s the thing that really gets me: The people in the audience can yell obscenities and insults, but if the people on the dias responded in kind, there would be all sorts of hand-wringing and pearl-clutching and bad poetry written about it. They dish it out, but don’t expect that they should have to take it.

John June 10, 2015 (9:09 am)

The Seattle Times leads of June 10 piece on the protest with,
“5 ‘Raging Grannies’ Arrested in anti-Shell protest at port”?

WSB June 10, 2015 (9:14 am)

Our information is directly from SPD, whose spokesperson Det. Patrick Michaud told me that they were detained and questioned (technical police term ‘interviewed and released’) but not arrested, and there is a difference.

furor scribendi June 10, 2015 (9:29 am)

Cedar and others – – advocating that “sometimes concerned citizens have to take an (illegal) stand” proves the hollowness of your position. The perfectly legal remedies available – – through courts, letters to the editor, phoning neighbors and friends, peaceful mass actions, yard signs, but mostly and most powerfully engaging the political process respectfully thru intelligent discussion. Otherwise, the only thing you can constructively do to send Shell to hell is buy a bike and swear off buses, cars, planes, delivery of anything including food, etc etc and convince the vast majority of our citizens to do the same, which will never happen. And engaging in hippie tactics like die-ins and megaphone wars will earn you the disrespect and alienation of most of your neighbors, however just your cause.

Felix June 10, 2015 (9:51 am)

I wonder if all those displaced families in the Niger delta felt “inconvenienced” when shell stole their land….I wonder if the indigenous folks who live off the land will feel “inconvenienced” when the oil spill happens and they loose their livelihoods…

SEA Sam June 10, 2015 (12:50 pm)

I am SO glad that the police are arresting the protestors breaking the law – criminally trespassing and impeding the rights of others. Blocking traffic – causing cars to sit and burn the very fuel you say we don’t need. Screw you! Get a job – and at the very least get out of the way of those who do have them. Your lack of diplomacy is an embarassment to our city. The obscenties and idiotic tactics you use are juvenile.

vanessa June 10, 2015 (12:58 pm)

I remember years ago, seeing the headline story about polar bears drowning. I wept.

Do some of you giggle when you see global warming effects?

G June 10, 2015 (1:20 pm)

Vanessa,

Populations of polar bears are actually quite healthy. You might want to google the scientist behind that story, too; he was investigated for scientific misconduct. I am very, very wary of those who are trying to scare me.

http://polarbearscience.com/2013/02/26/ten-good-reasons-not-to-worry-about-polar-bears/