Regional Public Journalism
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Police And May Day Protesters Face-Off In Olympia

Austin Jenkins
/
Northwest News Network

In Olympia, May Day protesters faced-off with police in riot gear Wednesday night. But the two sides did not clash. A group of about 50 mostly young people – some of them wearing face masks - marched for more than an hour through the streets of downtown Olympia, disrupting traffic.

“One, two, three, Anarchists are we. We fight beside the working class and kill the bourgeois,” they chanted.

Many of the chants were attacks on the police and media. At one point the marchers blocked Olympia’s Capitol Way. But the crowd quickly dispersed when the riot police appeared. As of 9 p.m., the Washington State Patrol said there had been no arrests or reports of property damage in Olympia.

 

Since January 2004, Austin Jenkins has been the Olympia-based political reporter for the Northwest News Network. In that position, Austin covers Northwest politics and public policy, as well as the Washington State Legislature. You can also see Austin on television as host of TVW's (the C–SPAN of Washington State) Emmy-nominated public affairs program "Inside Olympia."