SEATTLE (AP) - Seattle police arrested 13 people Saturday night after a march downtown turned destructive. The arrests were for property damage, obstructing a public officer and felony assault, police said Sunday.
The march was planned to mark the one year anniversary of the death of Breonna Taylor, a Black woman who was shot and killed by police during a botched drug raid at her Louisville, Kentucky home, KING5 reported.
During the march, police said members of the group pulled barricades, fencing, and cones out of a construction zone on Alaskan Way, blocking traffic in several lanes. The Washington State Patrol had to temporarily close the ferry terminal until the marchers cleared the area, police said.
At about 8:20 p.m., officers started arresting individuals who had tampered with the construction zone. Police said while this was happening, other members of the group began throwing rocks at police. One officer was struck by a rock but his helmet kept him from being injured, police said.
Police collected multiple rocks from the scene, some of which were the size of a baseball, police said. Officers also recovered a backpack nearby containing a hammer, a rock and two cans of spray paint.
The group made their way to Belltown around 9 p.m. and started vandalizing businesses with spray paint and broke several large windows, police said. They continued into the downtown core and caused more damage to businesses in the area of 6th Avenue and Pine Street.
Four of the arrestees were booked into the King County Jail and nine were processed and released from the West Precinct, police said.
The Downtown Seattle Association issued a statement Sunday condemning the destruction: “Just as we saw in late January’s destruction, Seattle police did their part last night by arresting people for violence and destruction of property. This kind of damaging behavior hampers our ability to recovery as a city.”
Please read our comment policy before commenting.