Eight police officers were hurt and 18 protesters arrested in Seattle on Wednesday when a May Day rally that began peacefully turned violent after dark, with crowds hurling rocks and bottles at police who responded with pepper spray grenades.
Protesters threw rocks, bottles and chunks of asphalt at officers, officials said, smashing store and car windows, overturning trash cans and lining up newspaper display racks to block streets.
Police in riot gear, some riding in armoured SWAT vehicles, responded by repeatedly firing “blast ball” grenades, which emit smoke tinged with pepper spray.
“We’re a bigger, better city than this,” Mayor Mike McGinn said at a news conference. “I’m disappointed that this is the picture the world sees of us.”
Most of the 150-200 protesters who had stayed on the street after darkness fell for a “non-permitted” protest had dispersed by midnight.
“We did not start to take action until that group itself started to act violently towards the officers and the community at large,” Assistant Police Chief Paul McDonagh said.
The day started with a peaceful march in support of immigrant rights, part of May Day rallies in cities across the US West planned by a coalition of organised labour activists, students, civil rights advocates and members of the clergy.