All will be charged with first degree criminal trespass. With the SPD’s investigation complete, one protester “was not released by the jail [because] she was on the in-custody calendar this morning,” according to an e-mail from Mills. The remaining nine will receive summons for an out-of custody arraignment.

Update: Out of the 40 to 50 protesters who performed a sit-in in the waiting room outside Mayor McGinn’s office yesterday evening, ten were arrested for trespass.

Some details are available at the SPD blotter:  http://spdblotter.seattle.gov/2012/02/27/demonstration-at-city-hall/

From a twitter post, it appears nine of the ten were released from custody between 8:00 and 8:30 a.m. this morning.

Feb 27, 2:30 p.m.

At last count, nearly 50 members of Occupy Seattle and supporters of the march were waiting for Mayor McGinn outside his office.

After leaving Seattle Central, they took over the streets, followed by Seattle Police. At Westlake Center they lit torches for those killed by Seattle Police.

From there they marched to City Hall yelling out for justice for John T. Williams, and others, while SPD bicycle patrol lined the streets.

Occupy then filled the Council Chamber, many seated or standing in back, while three Occupy members took turns speaking in front of the council “to announce that John Diaz does not have the mandate of the people. He will no longer  be the Chief of the Seattle Police Department. We demand the immediate prosecution of all officers found to be repeatedly engaged in misconduct.”

After leaving the Council Chambers, the group headed up 7 flights of stairs to Mayor McGinn’s office where they are now waiting.

It was the desire of some to stay the night if they have to.

“We’re going to wait for the mayor as long as we need to. It’s his office, but it’s our City Hall,” said one protester identifying herself only as Seattle’s Lady Gaga.

Detective Mark Jamieson, public information officer with the Seattle Police Department said, “it’s premature to talk about about arrests at this time,” as long as everyone is conducting themselves in a peaceful manner. But he added that when the office closes, they will be asked to leave.

“You could potentially be put under arrest for not leaving,” Jameison said. “Some people want to get arrested and there’s nothing we can do about that.” He said the majority of people in cases like this usually choose to leave.

On the Tibetan New Year called Losar, Tibetans would normally celebrate for 15 days, visiting friends and family, and having friends to their own homes. Every day they would be surrounded by new faces. Everything would be new.

This year, although the religious aspects of Losar have been observed, the festivities have been cancelled globally. “How can we enjoy ourselves while our brothers and sisters in Tibet are suffering,” said Jampa Jorkhang, president of the Tibetan Association of Washington.

In Tibet, 25 people, men and women, mostly monks and nuns, mostly young, have burned themselves alive in recent months to bring the world’s attention to human rights abuses by the Chinese Government. This act, known as self-immolation, is the supreme self-sacrifice for a Buddhist.

“We Tibetans believe in reincarnation,” says Jorkhang, “Being born as a human being is the greatest gift you can have. When you self-immolate, when you take your own life, you are destroying that. There is no rebirth.” He says, “they do not do it for individual reasons. They do it so the rest of the world can hear their suffering.”

On Wednesday, February 22, the first day of Losar, Jorkhang marched with 70 members of Seattle’s Tibetan community and supporters for 8 miles, from Sakya Monastery to downtown Seattle. From Greenwood, across the Ballard Bridge, through Pike Place Market, and finally into Westlake center, they marched and chanted, waving Tibetan and American flags, carrying replicas of coffins, and a large photo of the Dalai Lama.

With them was Tsultrim Dorjee, president of the Tibetan Youth Congress in Seattle, who can speak first hand of the Chinese occupation of Tibet.  A monk since he was 8-years-old, Dorjee had to flee Tibet in 1991. He says his friends were taken by the Chinese military and beaten for the names of people from his monastery. He was warned in the middle of the night that the military was looking for him. He and three others left immediately, not knowing where they were going, with no food, and no money.

Another member or the TYC, Kunsang Choedon, though born in India, she has family in Tibet. But contact with them is limited. “They don’t want to get in trouble for saying anything over the phone,” she says. They are afraid of being arrested, beaten, or tortured if anything they say is construed as criticism of the Chinese government. They can’t even say they are displeased, or that life is hard.

According to Jorkhang, “Every phone is tapped. Everyone in Tibet is paranoid. They don’t know who’s listening.”

Jorkhang recounts a story of 60 Tibetans who protested the Chinese Government, “they weren’t arrested at the time, but the military took multiple pictures of each and every person. Later they went to their houses,with the pictures, and arrested them.” He says when people are arrested in Tibet, they disappear. “Their families are afraid to go to the police to find them because they will also be caught.”

Jorkhang wants Governor Christine Gregoir, and former Governor Gary Locke, now the U.S. ambassador to China, to help in their plight. “When the governor goes to China, we want her to talk about human rights when she talks about trade.” He wants Locke “to be more voiceful” with China, to travel to Tibet and see for himself the suffering of the people.

The list of grievances with the Chinese occupation is long. “There are two fronts of suffering,” Jorkhang says, “The human suffering and nature.”

For its glaciers Tibet is known as a third pole.  But the glaciers are melting, and flooding the low areas, “a few years ago,” Jorkhang says, “thousands died in a mudslide.”

He attributes this to soil erosion from 50% of the forests being cut down by the Chinese, and their mining to exploit the rich natural resources of Tibet.

There are nine major rivers that flow from Tibet. The Chinese have built dams on all of  them and restricted the water flow needed for farming. “That’s the livelihood of Tibetans,”says Jorkhing. “Tibetan’s lifestyle is farming and animal husbandry.”

“They don’t have the skill to work in a factory, and they don’t have the educational background to work in an office.”

He says the Chinese government is forcing Tibetans off their land and into small housing units.

“Tibetans don’t want to give up their culture and their religion,” says Jorkhan. So as part of what is called Patriotic Re-education, the Chinese, in order in instill Chinese policy, have started with the young. The language of Tibet is not taught. The textbooks are all in Mandarin.

To add to this, foreign media is not allowed in Tibet. “Why the lock-down,” Jorkhing asks. “Why, if there’s nothing to hide? So they can do the slaughtering in the country.”

———–

editor’s note: I will be adding a humble photo gallery of the Wednesday’s march. Please come back if you would like to see it. In the meantime you can find many wonderful shots by… (I’m so sorry I forgot your name) here :http://www.washingtontibet.org/TAW/?p=503

They’re much better than mine anyway.

-Scott

Tsultrim Dorjee poses with a foam core coffin lid and a picture of the Tibetan Flag

Monks in Tibet are burning themselves alive as an act of sacrifice unfathomable to most people.

Tsultrim Dorjee, President of the Tibetan Youth Congress in Seattle knew two of them.

Dorjee spent this evening with a few members of Occupy Seattle making foam core coffins that will be draped in the Tibetan flag and marched on Wednesday, February 22, from Sakya Monastery in Ballard to Westlake center in downtown Seattle.

Dorjee became a monk when he was 8-years-old. He and three others were forced to flee Tibet in 1991. He says that two of his friends were “beaten for names.” A friend came to his home in the middle of the night and warned him that the military was looking for him. They left in the night, not knowing where to go, with no money, only clothes.

The Chinese Military, Dorjee said, “wants them to say that the Dali Lama is bad… to step on his picture.”

“A monk doesn’t want to do that. It hurts,” he said as he placed his hand on his heart.

On December 3, I wrote a letter to a friend describing the entire day and some of the aftermath. For some reason, I never sent the letter. Ten years later, while looking for material to refresh my memory of the day, I found it in a box of old writings.

I’m reprinting the letter here for the ten-year anniversary of the WTO protest.

Although detailed, it’s not meant to be journalism. There are no interviews and no independent research was conducted except for what I experienced on that day.

I spoke with some of the protesters, which is more than our local news did at the time, but it was only out of my own curiosity, not to craft a comprehensive story.

There may be factual errors and bias. There are no corrections except for some minimal editing.

This is simply a letter from the thick of it.

See the full article here.

They always put their cigarettes, smoked to the filter, in a can. They kept the area clean. And even on the day the port police were to close the camp down, it was still not alright to leave them on the ground.

The procedure to evacuate the homeless camp had been communicated to the residents of Nickelsville on Sunday by Port of Seattle Police Chief, Colleen Wilson. The park would be closed on Tuesday. Any vehicles in the parking lot on Wednesday would be impounded. There would be three warnings to leave before anyone was arrested. And the port police would make the sweep as peaceful as possible.

Wednesday morning the Nickelodeons, as they call themselves, held a meeting. There was a show of hands by those who were going to stay and be arrested.

Ed Mast, a man with a home, who had become a supporter of Nickelsville, asked, ”those of us who aren’t Nickelodeons, can we make a stand and risk getting arrested?”

“Anyone who can make a stand, is welcome to make a stand,” was the response.

Was he planning on being arrested?

“I can be,” he said. “I’m available to be. I’m not excited about it.”

That afternoon he would be one of the 12 people taken into custody by the port police.

The meeting ended in a prayer for the survival of the camp and the people who lived there, “I pray that we will succeed in what we’re doing. I know we will succeed if we’re together.”

They took their possessions out in bags, sacks, and suitcases. They put them in a van the police had given special permission to be in the parking lot.

They left the tents up. One simple explanation was, “this is Nicklesville.”

This was, in fact, the 9th home of Nickelsville. They’ve moved eight times throughout and around Seattle and adjacent unincorporated areas in the past year.

Nickelsville Organizer, Scott Morrow, speaking at the meeting said they would look for other land. “People have been willing to help,” he said, “but it’s going to be a tough couple of days.”

The few hours left were spent waiting, talking, or sitting in silence.

Photographers and journalists came. City Attorney Candidate Peter Holmes, and City Council Candidate Sally Bagshaw came and spoke one-on-one with several Nickelodeons, in a show of support.

Officials from the port arrived and at 1 p.m. and addressed the residents.

The media was instructed to stand behind a blue line painted on the grass outside the camp.

When everyone who would leave the camp had voluntarily walked out, twelve people remained.

About 35 officers, some trained in civil disobedience, arrived in two rented school buses.

“It looks like an awful lot of officers” Sgt. Tuttle of the port police force said, “and it is a lot.” The large force was in preparation for an anticipated demonstration that never materialized.

After three warnings through the radio of a squad car, informing those left in the camp that they were in violation of illegal trespass in the 2nd degree,the port police entered the camp, and searched the tents. It appeared that everyone waiting to be arrested was waiting out in the open.

There were two to four officers for each. They took their time. “In a process like this, it’s good to slow things down. We have time to make sure the process goes smoothly,” Sgt. Tuttle said.

The officers spoke with those being placed under arrest. They patted them down, and one by one, they were led out of the camp.

Those outside the camp cheered each one and called out each name as they were escorted past.

Corporate Media Officer Charla Skaggs said they would be brought to port owned property to be processed. If anyone had an outstanding warrant they would be remanded to the jurisdiction of the warrant. The rest would be released.

No one taken into custody had a warrant out, and everyone was “released almost immediately,” according to Skaggs.

The port had offered to provide transportation upon their release. But those arrested had prepared for their own.

Skaggs added that any property left at the site would be tagged and stored. “The residents have been told how to contact our office to claim their belongings.”

“We have worked very hard to avoid getting to this situation,” she said. The port had held meetings, and worked with the city and county to find an alternate place for the people of Nicklesville to live.

The port, she said, has “facilitated those efforts. We don’t want to kick them out. We want to find another location.”

They had even offered port transportation to move the entire camp. But the Nickelodians refused to move until they could find a permanent place. Skaggs said churches had offered temporary locations.

At a nearby parking lot, where those who left the camp had gathered, they were waiting for rides to 15 hotel rooms throughout the city, rented for a week by two women and some anonymous donators.

Some port police also provided transportation. Commander Tony Anderson, had room for three in his vehicle. “I think we have some people here who need some special care,” he said.

terminal 107 park will be closed until any possible environmental hazards can be evaluated, and the area that used to be Nickelsville can be cleaned and repaired.

Skaggs gives a conservative estimate of the cost of maintenance and other resources spent by the port since July 23, when the camp was established, including the cost of the sweep at about $75,000.

There are more details to this story coming in. Please look for the final version with updates and possible corrections on Monday on the front page of Cojourn.net. I should also have a photo gallery up sometime this weekend.

-Scott Sands

In front of

They were protesting the refusal of the city to allot them an additional $50,000 to purchase bus tickets so those staying at shelters with the Seattle Homeless Housing and Resource Effort could get to the city and back to their shelter beds at night.

There have been criticisms of bringing this protest to the Mayor’s home. Some readers of the West Seattle Blog commented that it should be off limits, and that it is victimizing Nickels’ innocent neighbors.

Ron Wilson, facilities coordinator for Bunk House 2 with SHARE, said “I’m against attacking the home, myself. But there are a lot of people who won’t be dry tonight, or warm. Unless you have been in this position, you wouldn’t understand.”

And although Nickels is the outgoing Mayor, the sentiment among the homeless and SHARE is that he is responsible for their situation. They blame him for cutting programs and trying to push the homeless out of the city.

A more serious accusation is that Nickels is responsible for the disappearance of the paperwork that would have allowed representatives of SHARE to speak in front of the City Council to ask for the funding to purchase bus tickets, according to a press release from SHARE.

Steve Friberg, a camp advisor for Tent City 3, and resident, said he was one of the people who signed this paperwork, and that it vanished.

“Those without money use what power is available to them,” said Leslie Petersen, an advocate for Nickelsville, Monday evening. She was leaving the homeless camp to pick up people from shelters downtown, and bring them to the Mayor’s house.

Even though Nickelsville is not a part of SHARE, and they say they do not receive bus tickets from them, several residents there joined in the protest.

I met with them at Nickelsville. Ronald, head of security gave me a ride in the back of his pick up truck. “It’ll probably be more comfortable on this cushion,” he said. I sat in the back with a spare tire, the cushion, and the makings of a bed rumpled in the corner.

In the front with him were Jim and his wife Jill. They just returned from New Orleans where Jim spent a month looking fruitlessly for a job. They lived at Nickelsville for a month and a half before that. Monday they returned to find that Nickelsville would be shut down by the Port Police on Wednesday.

They met up with others on the lawn of the Admiral Congressional United Church of Christ. A few had signs asking Nickles for change for the bus. They carried the signs to make the sleepover a legal protest.

A police officer pulled up to the church and addressed the crowd, asking for someone who would represent them. There was silence. “Is there any one voice among you,” he asked.

Scott Morrow, a consultant for SHARE2, said he would have to find somebody. A policy of the the organizers for SHARE is that they don’t speak for the homeless. The homeless can speak for themselves.

Morrow approached individuals on the lawn asking them if they had I.D. When he found three who were willing and able to speak with the officer they approached him and, one at a time, they introduced themselves and shook his hand.

“This is a peaceful protest.” they explained. They were going to lay down mats to sleep on. They were not going to disturb anybody.

“Everyone understands this, right?” said Officer Joe Bouffiou, executive protection to the mayor. “Let me explain my position,” he said, “I work for the people.” He added “I’m here to make sure absolutely no one gets hurt.”

There was one other point of concern, which was that none of the mayor’s decorative plants were damaged.
From the church, the protesters walked a few blocks, quietly, in single file, keeping to the sidewalk, until they arrived at Nickles residence, where they laid down their bedding.

News crews from KOMO KING and KIRO arrived and interviewed spokesmen for the protest. Some neighbors could be seen looking out through their windows. Several officers surveyed the scene. An advocate for the homeless had flyers prepared for any of the neighbors who wanted to know what was happening.

“As long as it’s peaceful, we’re going to let them exercise their rights,” Officer Bouffiou said.

The night passed without incident according to Renee Witt, public information officer for the Seattle police department.

Tonight, those from Nicklesville, who joined in the protest, along with all of its other residents will sleep there for the last time. Tomorrow, they will either be pushed out or arrested.

He said there were no conditions for them staying there. From the start, he said that “we’ve made made it clear that they’re there illegally.”

“The port doesn’t have any authority to provide services for the homeless,” he said.

“We do want to be humane,” he added. Since July 23, “we gave them time to find property, or an entity to deal with them.”

“I think that’s compassion,” he added.

“We’ve been fair, we’ve been compassionate, and we’ve given them a deadline.”

He said “there are several church organizations that are willing to take them,” but it is McGraw’s understanding they have been unwilling to accept.

They won’t know how much it will cost to repair the damage to the park until the residents of Nickelsville leave.
“We will have that number and we won’t be shy about sharing it.”

“By state law, it’s illegal for us to allow them to be there. There are no conditions for us to continue with this situation. We have to enforce a deadline, and enforce the law

A Nickelsville supporter lays out a cake for the one-year celebration of their current home at Terminal 107 Park, in West Seattle. The cake's pink tents were made from material salvaged from the original Nickelsville tents.

One mile south of the West Seattle Bridge, Terminal 107 park has been home to a homeless camp named Nickelsville for one year now. Saturday the residents and its supporters celebrated its birthday. Wednesday, the port police will clear it out and arrest those who refuse to move on.

Some believe Nickelsville is a political stunt. It’s organizers have been accused of using the homeless – as one reader of the West Seattle Blog put it – “as a political football.” The perception seems to be that those who live in Nickelsville are not being helped, that instead of trying to overcome their situation, they would simply rather squat on a public park, trashing it.

I read the comments written on the posts of the West Seattle Blog. I took notes, and I went to Nickelsville Saturday, September 26, for their one-year anniversary.

The first thing I noticed was the encampment was surrounded by a waist-high, orange fence. It was explained to me the fence served two purposes:

One, it keeps the camp contained. It let people know that they weren’t trying to take over the park.

Second, it is for safety. Even though those living there could step over the fence, no one apparently did. There is only one way in and one way out. Everyone who comes in has to go through the same way and past security.

There are two residents on security 24 hours a day. “You come in here and someone’s gonna meet you at the desk,” James Greer said. Greer has been living here since March.

Security is part of the self-governance of Nickelsville. Security staff and the head of security are voted in by the camp. They enforce the rules and regulations of the camp, including their zero-tolerance policies.

Drugs and alcohol are not allowed in the camp. Violence and theft are also prohibited.

One reader of the West Seattle Blog posted a story about a sex offender found to be living at a homeless shelter associated with Seattle Homeless Housing and Resource Effort (SHARE). according to Greer, sex offenders are also on the zero-tolerance policy. Whether a background check is performed or not, I don’t know. It seems more likely that they would only be aware of offenses occurring at the camp. This is something that I will look into.

The result of violating a zero-tolerance rule is the offender is banned for life.

Richard, the man who met me at the entrance of the camp, told me that a while back, “A guy came in, under the influence of alcohol, and threatened to light his tent on fire.”

Security responded and the residents joined in a “show of force,” as they put it. “He’s not allowed back,” Richard said, “if you’re under the influence, you’re permanently barred.”

There is an appeal process, but I was told that evictions are rarely overturned.

“Nicklesville gives people a place to go and be safe,” Richard said.

It seems that an organized camp like this, for many, is preferable to staying in shelters. “Most people carry their whole lives on their backs,” Greer said. When they set it down, sometimes “they turn around and its gone. Here, when you come back, your stuff is still going to be here.”

According to Richard there used to be 150 people at the camp. Now there’s about 70. He attributes it to people “moving, people getting jobs.”

Of the 70-something people living there now, Richard said there are 30 to 35 who work. And there are “more still looking for places to work and to live.”

Raymond, the head of security, was laid off from three jobs. He recently found out that he has bipolar disorder. “I thought I just had an attitude problem,” he said. To make money, these days, he uses his pick-up truck to gather scrap metal from automotive shops, and he sells it to scrap yards. He gets seven cents a pound for steel.

On Wednesday the Port Police will sweep Nickelsville.

“Let me ask you a hypothetical question,” Raymond said “Let’s say they shut us down. Do you think there are enough shelter beds for 80 people?”

One place where many homeless people go is the West Duwamish Greenbelt, a place they call the jungle. They say it’s a dangerous place where people can go to hide from police. There are drug dealers there, and murderers. “Homeless people have died there,” Greer said. “They should cut that all down.”

Last Monday, the Women in Black, a group of women dedicated to mourning the deaths of homeless people held a vigil there for six who died between June and August: Two committed suicide, two were murdered, and two were hit by cars – possibly while crossing from one camp to another.

Nickelsville “is about saving lives,” Greer said.

This will come after their one-year celebration of living there.

In addition, Seattle Housing and Resource Effort will run out bus tickets on Sunday, September 29. They give these tickets to the homeless so they can return to their shelters and camps at the end of the day.

According to an anonymous source, SHARE was supposed to address Seattle City Council to ask for an additional $50,000 in funding to continue the bus ticket program, but the paperwork they filled out somehow disappeared, so they were never able to make their request.

Share “desperately need[s] drivers to help them reach the homes the local politicians whose sidewalks they will be
sleeping in front of until this problem is solved,” is written at NickelsvilleSeattle.org.

So here’s my plan for the week:

Saturday – Attend the Nickelsville “birthday party.”

Monday – Cover the sidewalk sleep-over.

Wednesday – Cover the port police sweep at Nickelsville.

And in between I’ll be conducting as many interviews as I can to fill in the story.

I’ll be blogging on all of this as it happens. Look for updates Saturday night or Sunday morning; Tuesday afternoon; and Wednesday night. If I can adhere to an optimistic schedule, a complete, final piece will be up Thursday evening or Friday sometime.

I’ve read through the responses to the sweep, on WestSeattleBlog.com. I’ll be using these for questions to ask, in order to give a better understanding of the situation.

If you have any thoughts, questions, or information, please comment below.

Harris said the interview lasted only about a minute and he didn’t have time to mention some of the groups involved, like Feet First, World Changing, and Unpaving Paradise. [If you would like to see what they're about, please follow the links. I hope to write more information on them, their involvement, and their mini-parks, as well as some of the others, later tonight.]

The piece will run Thursday night, on King 5′s Evening Magazine, which starts at 7 p.m.

Tuesday evening, when I spoke with Harris, he was concerned that the 500 sq. ft. of sod that he had ordered wouldn’t be there on time. The company delivering it could only give him a window from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. With setup of the mini-parks beginning at 8 a.m. or earlier, and plans for them to be finished by 9 a.m., this may mean that the lots will have to do without, for a little while at least.

I’d like to thank Keith for his interview on Tuesday. I’m saving most of it to integrate into the final piece which will appear Monday on Cojourn.net