The Seattle Bike Cop Labor Day Confrontation

This is a relatively small story that’s pretty much died down this afternoon, but it’s nevertheless a really interesting example of narrative divergence.

You may have seen one of these videos floating around this morning:

HAPPENING NOW: @SeattlePD rushes through barricade of Antifa Militants and BLM protesters outside of Seattle Police Officers Guild. Multiple protesters get arrested. #seattleriots #seattleprotests pic.twitter.com/rJto0B4t7N
— Katie Daviscourt🇺🇸 (@KatieDaviscourt) September 8, 2020

There were soon two different stories.

To simplify following the criminal justice news of the last 36 hours, I posted a set of 10 links to police brutality videos on Facebook

Can’t do that here, obvs

So I’m putting them into a thread

— T. Greg Doucette (@greg_doucette) May 30, 2020

Seattle police crack down on Antifa militants who’ve taken to rioting much earlier in the day today. pic.twitter.com/EREQuNjyUE

— Ian Miles Cheong @ stillgray.substack.com (@stillgray) September 8, 2020

Here’s the breakdown of the narrative evolution

The left is emphasizing that this group had not been aggressive—the police essentially assaulted peaceful protestors. The fact that the police guild apparently played a country song during this is really interesting for the narrative. It gives an Americanized Flight of the Valkyries image of a right-wing, redneck, fascistic invasion.

The right, on the other hand, is emphasizing that the riots have been going on for 100 days, and earlier that day they had apparently been engaging in criminal and threatening behavior. The fact that Molotov cocktails were recovered from this encounter is obviously a keystone of this story.

And of course, we see the usual rioter/protestor & Antifa/BLM dichotomy between either side.

Here’s a few articles that covered this (you can really tell a whole story in a title, can’t you?)

As Seattle passes 100 days of protest, 22 arrested at anti-police union march – Seattle Times

Police Rush Protesters Outside SPOG HQ While Blasting Country Music, 22 Arrested – The Stranger

22 Arrested in Labor Day Seattle Protest, Hurl Molotov Cocktails at Police: ‘All My Heroes Kill Cops’ – Breitbart

22 arrested in Seattle protests against racial injustice – Seattle PI

And here’s the report from the SPD blotter.

That’s all for now!

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