Get Out of My City

Get Out of My City
by Tim Loughner

I will not ask you to support the World Trade Organization. I most certainly won’t ask you to support those protesting the WTO. All I know is what I have been going through during the WTO meeting in Seattle, and it isn’t fun in the least. I have been quite frightened for the last day.

I work at Virginia Mason Medical Center (VM) in downtown Seattle. What I suppose is the most telling aspect of working at VM during the WTO Convention is that the hospital lies within spitting distance (less those two blocks) from the Washington State Convention Center. Physically, the hospital straddles a major thoroughfare called Seneca Street. From a “skybridge” connecting the two halves of the hospital, I could see below the sheer stupidity of a few militant protesters.

I saw this as an excellent opportunity to get some reporting in, but I thought it best to recount my personal thoughts and feelings of being in the middle of a riot.

First off, I will let you know where I stand on the issues. 1) I do not support the WTO as an organization, although I support world trade. 2) I believe that people have a right to free speech, that is why I started the American Partisan. 3) I realize that 75% or more of the protesters at the Convention were peaceful.

On Tuesday (11/30/99) morning I noticed a bit of extra traffic as I drove into downtown Seattle, but nothing too odd. I did make an extra effort to avoid my normal exit of Madison off of Interstate-5, which happens to be the same exit as the Convention center. I started the day off in the Operating Room, as I always do with little on my mind in regards to the WTO. We had all hoped that this would discourage elective surgery, but it didn’t. Being that it was on 7am, I figured much wasn’t going to happen that early anyway.

While walking through the ER several hours later, I saw the TV turned to the news showing a big protest march going through downtown. Much to my surprise, they were marching right under the skybridge! I had to check it out, so I made my way to look below. At first it almost looked like a parade. I got bored quickly and made my way back to work (where I should have been anyway).

Later that day, I heard that the protesters had taken over Westlake Center, which is the major shopping center of the city. What had happened in a short few short hours that turned peaceful protesters into idiot rioters?

I went back to the skybridge and saw a chainlink fence set up along Seneca Street to keep the crowd contained somewhat. However, as I watched they picked up the fence and carried it away then proceeded to lie down in front of a city bus. Only a block away, the crowd was slowly moving their way up the hill towards the hospital.

One hour later, the hospital was put on security alert and all restricted doors were electronically sealed while small public doors to the outside were sealed. We also saw several Seattle police officers in riot gear meander in through to ER to make sure things were safe.

Needless to say, I made every effort to leave as early as possible, but had no luck. Because of the chaos in Seattle, no bus service was being run. So, I had to walk 5 miles to where my car was parked on top of Capitol Hill (free parking!).

While weaving in and out of protesters and what I would call “wackos,” I was barraged with tear gas. Apparently the police wanted to move people or disperse them, I did not know at the time. I was completely unaware of where the police were, let alone where they wanted me to go.

If you have never experienced tear gas before, consider yourself lucky. It is one of the worst experiences I have ever had. Besides the obvious tears from burning eyes, you cannot breathe. I had to sit down to catch myself, although the protesters looked like they have had plenty of experience at this. Some even had gas masks.

After the smoke cleared, I could see through my watering eyes riot police half a block away with batons walking right towards me. I stood up and turned to walk away, but as I did, protesters threw some kind of big firecracker towards me, which I think was an M-80. I ran towards police, as I did not want to be in that garbage.

The police did not like that. They yelled at me to disperse, but I really did not want to go the opposite way that I was. So I got frisked. I explained to them that I was just trying to go home, and after a lecture from an obviously fatigued cop, I got to go to my car several miles later.

I won’t even talk about the traffic.

When I returned home, I turned on the news and saw just how bad the damage was windows broken, looting, vandalism. In fact, after viewing pictures, I could see myself on TV in the middle of the fire and realized how close I was to real danger. I was scared then, but about wet my pants after seeing that.

These protesters do not live here. They do not realize what a beautiful city Seattle is and how much pride those here take in it. It is a peaceful place, and very tolerant. Unfortunately, the protesters took advantage of that tolerance.

I don’t care about the WTO, nor do I care about the message the protesters brought. All I know is that these people have messed up my streets, destroyed my town, nearly killed me, and have caused millions in damage. This is ridiculous, stupid, and above all, frightening.

This all brings me to my point of this article. I want to drive this point home and let everyone know what myself, like many other Seattle residents feel.

Go home, all of you.