By Megan Purn

As Seattle erupts in a frenzied convulsion of disorder, the city remains uncomfortably conscious of its sudden prominence as a subject of worldwide curiosity. Peaceful protesters of the World Trade Organization’s summit this week in downtown Seattle have been joined by rioters and anarchist groups, prompting action from King County sheriff’s deputies and the National Guard. Although unarmed, the gas-mask and riot-gear sporting police are becoming more serious, injuring and arresting many.

Claremont’s own Pitzer student Eli Hastings PI ’00, and possibly other Claremont Colleges students, was arrested this Wednesday during protests, along with approximately 225 other people. According to The Seattle Times, protesters got inside restricted zones, blocked off by King County and the National Guard, and were arrested and transported to a former naval station for booking. Shouts of "Down with the WTO!" and "I love America!" by those arrested mingled with other protesters’ shouts of "Shame! Shame!" to the police.

Hastings and other protesters were arrested for "pedestrian interference and refusal to disperse," said theSeattle police captain, according to Thursday’s Seattle Times.

After flying into Seattle on Tuesday morning in what had been a longtime plan of his and other students from the five colleges, Hastings reported from the site of the protests that evening, one hour and fifteen minutes before the commencement of Mayor Paul Schell’s emergency 7pm curfew.

Hastings described police behavior as "homicidal" and extremely disturbing in their tactics, which he said included shooting rubber bullets at kneeling protesters from "point-blank range."

"From about 7am till 4pm [on Wednesday] the protests were really peaceful and beautiful," said Seattle resident Serena Tideman in a phone interview with The Student Life, as the National Guard dropped tear gas from helicopters outside her apartment on the main street in Capitol Hill, approximately ten blocks up from the Convention Center. "I’ve been sick all yesterday and today because of the gas," said Tideman. "My baby’s exhausted, and I can’t buy more diapers because all of the stores are boarded up."

She reported residents not connected to protests have been sprayed, beaten, and shot with rubber bullets as the masked and armed police frantically try to restore order and keep the streets clear. Her friend was sprayed in the face with pepper gas while walking another friend to her car. Young Kim, another resident of Seattle, reported that a protester unwilling to move had pepper spray dumped down his pants.

50,000 people gathered around Seattle’s Convention Center on Wednesday, reported Hastings, and remained peaceful during the day. Marches and protests, which began Sunday, have been organized primarily by groups outside of Seattle, some as far away as India. President Clinton arrived Wednesday afternoon, and delivered an address to the public, condemning rioters while encouraging demonstrations of peaceful protesters who will be "integrate[d] into the longer-term debate."

Marchers dressed up in elaborate costumes symbolizing varied issues of which they hope to remind the summit’s participants. Those dressed as sea-turtles protested the US’s recent failure to protect the turtles in shrimping laws; others walked on stilts in elegant butterfly costumes creatively demonstrated against the use of corn pesticides which kill monarch butterflies. Performance artists, dancers, and drummers lined the soaked streets of the city.

Riots which broke out on Tuesday appeared to have little to do with actual protesting of the WTO. Stores and establishments were vandalized and looted, although the major sites of destruction were such global conglomerates as the Gap, McDonald’s, Planet Hollywood, Starbucks, and Nike. Agendas behind the anarchy follows a wide spectrum; one Seattle local television station aired a clip of a young man kicking down the huge NikeTown sign wearing a pair of Nike shoes.

Each day the police have attempted to push the group out of the area and chaos has erupted, bleeding into the residential, patently liberal part of town, Capitol Hill, and then back down to the waterfront. Police intentions have been to get protesters out of the city; but since bus lines have been shut down, they have succeeded in little more than herding increasingly frustrated masses around the densest parts of the city.

Further protests against the protests and the police action have been made; on Wednesday, residents of Capitol Hill, where the rioters were herded, marched the streets urging the police to "get out of the area: it’s residential."

The national news has, up until Thursday morning, reported relatively nonviolent action, citing only three hospital admissions. However, most of the injuries caused by pepper spray, concussion bombs, tear gas, rubber pellets, and billy clubs have been treated by on-the-scene medics. "Ambulances are everywhere," according to Tideman.

The WTO, which acknowledged the need to hear protester concerns in speeches made both Tuesday and Wednesday, has been held up due to protesting and rioting. Tom Barry attended the conference as a delegate from the Interhemispheric Resource Center, a non-governmental, non-profit organization. He reported to The Student Life that "Nothing got done [on Tuesday]."

"It was good to have the demonstrations, but work many people had planned to do [at the conference[ couldn’t get done," he said.

Barry sympathizes with concerns of the protesters, who feel the WTO summit should be open to the public. "We all need to know how the global economy is working, how the rules are made that shape it," he said.

"Most people feel positively [about the protests], because people were out there in the streets telling all the world that maybe they should pay closer attention to the WTO," said Barry.

Hastings, originally intending to report to The Student Life, has been unable to comment at press-time due to his arrest.