http://www.azstarnet.com/public/dnews/041-7985.html

Tucson WTO protesters out of Seattle jails, claim success

Tuesday, 7 December 1999

By Thomas Stauffer
The Arizona Daily Star

Five Tucson activists who served jail time in the protest of the World Trade
Organization had been released as of Sunday, a spokesman for the group said.
None of the members of the Sonoran Justice Alliance was involved in
vandalism of any kind, said Daniel Patterson.
``We took a real strong stand to protest non-violently,'' Patterson said.
The alliance of 23 local activist groups joined environmental, labor and
human rights organizations protesting the meeting of delegates from 135 WTO
nations last week in Seattle. They demonstrated against an organization they
claimed defends corporate interests to the exclusion of human interests.
Police using pepper spray and tear gas arrested 587 of the thousands of
protesters intent on disrupting the meeting. Most of the demonstrators were
non-violent, but many broke windows, spray-painted graffiti and did other
damage.
About 35 members of the alliance were arrested, Patterson said.
Chris Ford said he served four days in the King County Jail in downtown
Seattle in solitary confinement.
``I was under 24-hour lock-down, I was never read my rights, and I didn't go
before a judge until Saturday night,'' Ford said.
Ford was charged with interference of pedestrian walkway and failure to
disperse.
``They never even gave us a warning to disperse,'' Ford said. ``They just
started arresting us en masse.''
Patterson said more than a few of the 80 alliance members returned home with
respiratory problems due to the tear gas and pepper spray police used.
``Everybody was exposed . . . even the delegates smelled it in their
banquets while they were eating,'' said Dwight Metzger, an alliance member
who was not arrested. ``It was everywhere.''
Members returned to Tucson feeling that the demonstration accomplished its
goal, Patterson said.
``I think it was incredible what happened up there,'' he said. ``They
weren't able to set an agenda and their talks totally collapsed Friday
night.''
The attention raised in Seattle last week also brought with it an awareness
of the World Trade Organization that few people had before the
demonstration, Patterson said.
``We totally exposed the WTO,'' Patterson said. ``Before this happened
nobody knew what the WTO was and now everybody knows and they don't like it.
I think they're going to have a black eye for a long time.''


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