Seattle police said Sunday that a group of rioters who caused property damage to government buildings and private companies during a protest earlier in the day appeared to be “highly organized.”
Police said the demonstration began peacefully in Westlake Park around 10:30 a.m. on Sunday.
Hours later, a different group appeared, with baseball bats, police said in a press release.
The second group marched down Fifth Avenue while breaking windows and labeling buildings with paint, police said. The group then headed south to Seattle Police Headquarters and the Seattle Municipal Court, where they again smashed windows and spray-painted both buildings.
Protesters then marched north on Third Avenue, smashing business windows, looting and marking walls along the way.
After the group reached the West Enclosure, some attempted to enter the building while others threw stones and bottles at police officers. Other culprits fired mortar-type fireworks at officers, injuring them.
Police said two officers suffered lacerations and abrasion wounds. A third officer suffered burns to the neck and was transferred to a nearby hospital. In total, 12 officers were injured.
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The crowd continued to Capitol Hill, did more property damage, and caused at least one fire inside a business that the crews eventually extinguished. Later, group members fired mortar-type fireworks into the lobby of the East Precinct after breaking its windows. The mortar started a small fire that was quickly extinguished, police said.
The protesters finally broke up when they reached Cal Anderson Park. A police incident commander said that people within the second group “appeared to be highly organized” and their actions “appeared to be a very concerted effort to damage the property of certain companies and government facilities.”
Police denounced the riots as “criminal acts, not peaceful protests.”
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Fire and incendiary bomb investigators, as well as agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives [ATF] They were conducting follow-up investigations into arson and fireworks.
Detectives from the Seattle Police Department were following reports of property damage and looting.
