SEATTLE (AP) - Tens of thousands of people marched through Seattle Saturday for the one-year anniversary of events supporting women’s rights and other causes.
Dressed for a drizzle and temperatures in the 40s, the festive crowd streamed through the city’s Capitol Hill neighborhood on their way to downtown and then to Seattle Center, location of the Space Needle.
Many carried hand-lettered signs. Among them: “It’s time to ovary react,” ’’Girls just want to have fun_damental rights,” ’’All wives matter” and “Silence is complicity.”
Seattle police say the event has been peaceful overall so far, but one man was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police officer. Sgt. Sean Whitcomb said police responded to a report of a man harassing people near the staging area before the march began, but it’s not clear if the man was there specifically because of the march.
Whitcomb said the march appeared to have tens of thousands of people, but declined to give an exact estimate. Estimates put last year’s crowd at more than 100,000.
“It’s been fantastic,” said 59-year-old Lorraine Silva of Kirkland, a Seattle suburb, marching with a group of girlfriends. “I hope that the energy and willingness to come out to show that we feel things aren’t going in a good direction will send a message.”
Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan, who tweeted a selfie with other marchers, tweeted that it was inspiring to see so many marchers out for the second year in a row, calling it a “year of action.”
This year’s event began with speeches, including from Seattle City Council member Teresa Mosqueda.
“We now have a majority people of color and a super-majority women council, and that is because of our movement,” she said.
The Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Washington led Seattle’s march in an effort to call attention to what it said is an epidemic of violence against indigenous women.
In Olympia, about 8,000 people gathered at the Capitol building, Washington State Patrol spokesman Kyle Moore said.
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