No charges will be brought against Officer Ian Burke for the execution of John T. Williams. Is anyone surprised? Is this the call for justice so many police-apologists desire? It’s been nearly six months since the murder of John T. Since then footage of SPD brutalizing people have been leaked to the public, and just over a week since officers attacked anti-police demonstrators in their Seattle home.
In the early morning of Sun Feb. 6th the police approached a person vaguely matching the description of a suspect in a burglary on a nearby porch. After being asked for their badge numbers and denied entry to the house the pigs snuck in through an open window and attacked six people, arresting three and charging them with assault on an officer. One pig exclaimed “I’m going to Ian Burke your ass motherfucker” to one individual as he was handcuffed and beaten. Though the house didn’t seem to be targeted due to knowledge of anti-police demonstrators residing there, once it was understood that these people weren’t going to take shit from the authority the pigs escalated with violence.
That same night a group of 40 supporters gathered outside the jail and held a noise demo show solidarity with their comrades and other prisoners. Bells, horns, whistles, pots and pans all rattled through the empty streets and into the jail. A surveillance camera was destroyed and a grate from the guards parking lot was ripped down. The chant “A.C.A.B.- All Cops Are Bastards!” caught on inside on multiple levels. We could see lights flicker and arms wave through windows. The prisoners heard us and understood why we were there. Our friends were released on Tuesday, with no charges sticking.
The old adage “an injury to one is an injury to all” rings true in the face of our common enemy: the State and Capitalism, whose police and prisons maintain the depravity and isolation of a world reduced to commodities and appearances.
This call out for Specifically West Coast solidarity is not meant to exclude any regions from acting (in fact we encourage it!) but to reaffirm networks of affinity that already exist. To realize our strength as a collective force, and the feelings of joy that spread through moments of solidarity and revolt in the face of a common enemy. It is our actions together that bind us.
Against the police and the Prison World they maintain!
Solidarity with all imprisoned comrades, and those still resisting!
To John Graham, Leonard Peltier, Scott Demuth, G20 Arrestees, Asheville 11, Imprisoned Chilean comrades.
Solidarity with all prisoners!
Destroy what destroys you!
Below is a list of recent anti-police activity in Seattle, from most to least recent.
Feb. 12th – Another October 22nd Coalition (O22) rally, this time with a heavy anarchist presence.
http://pugetsoundanarchists.org/node/196
Feb. 6th – Noise Demo outside Seattle Jail for arrested comrades
http://pugetsoundanarchists.org/node/184
Feb. 3rd – Police accountability forum hosted by Seattle’s “alternative” newspaper The Stranger was interrupted by individuals in the crowd shouting down the police and groups of protesters chanting “Cops, Pigs, Murderers!”, inside and outside the building.
http://www.king5.com/news/local/Seattle-police-accountability-forum–115…
Jan. 20th – A march organized by the Oct 22nd coalition (front group for the RCP parasites ) that resulted in a group of youth holding an intersection during an unpermitted march.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2014235279_policeshootin…
