Seattle SWAT police raided the apartment of several Occupy Seattle folks early in the morning on July 10th. Surprisingly, they did have a warrant, for “anarchist materials.” Violent criminals, no, police should definitely focus on protestors with anarchist ties. I’m sure this has nothing to do with the PATRIOT Act or NDAA influence on American citizens being hunted down like domestic terror groups because of their political expression.
After awakening the occupants with a flash grenade, handcuffing them, and several hours of ransacking the residence, police hauled away evidence including:
- court notes (from a previously tossed out Occupy arrest)
- political flyers (dangerous propaganda)
- black hoodie (who doesn’t see an absurd Black Bloc reference in this)
- pink scarf (clearly radical gay activist ties)
- sunglasses (was there a suspicious mustache attached?)
No arrests. Sounds like a waste of time and police resources, unless the intention was to intimidate political dissidents. Whenever I hear of these raids, all I can think about are the citizens who were targeted for crimes in these cities, and where were the police? Conducting McCarthyism raids.
