Associated Press
SEATTLE – The Westlake Center shopping mall in downtown Seattle was evacuated today after pepper spray or some other irritant that was released in the adjacent bus tunnel spread to the building, police said.
At least one woman was treated by an ambulance crew. A number of fire trucks and emergency vehicles responded to the shopping mall in the heart of downtown.
Those who were evacuated complained of eye irritation and shortness of breath.
Sue Stangl, a spokeswoman for the Seattle Fire Department, said pepper spray dissipates quickly so it could be hard to detect.
“At this point, we don’t have any indication that there was anything,” Stangl said.
It was not immediately known whether the incident was related to Thursday’s demonstrations marking the one-year anniversary of the World Trade Organization protests.
Westlake Center, a four-floor mall and high-rise complex is next to Westlake Park, a plaza where much of the anti-WTO demonstrations Thursday and a year ago took place.
Police said the chemical irritant apparently was released in two places in the bus tunnel, which runs beneath the plaza.
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