OLYMPIA – Nine more people have been arrested in protests against Iraq-bound Army convoys to the port in Washington’s capital, bringing the total to 16 in three days, police said.
Police moved in Wednesday after demonstrators blocked a Stryker Brigade convoy from reaching the port via Marine Drive. In contrast to the quiet arrests of six people Tuesday and one on Monday, scuffling, shouting and screaming arose as some protesters were carried to a van.
“Now, if they choose to basically go limp and fall on the ground, they have to be picked up … and carried with their feet dragging,” police Cmdr. Tor Bjornstad said. “The level of the force we use is pretty much based on the response of the individual we’re dealing with. We don’t use any more than is necessary.”
Protesters also blocked the gate for a time when another convoy arrived by a different route on Franklin Street, but no one else was arrested.
Meanwhile, City Hall and the municipal jail were locked for about an hour and a half after the arrests to prevent disruption of city business by those who were arrested and their supporters, Sgt. James Partin said.
The first of about 20 convoys began arriving Monday from Fort Lewis, between Tacoma and Olympia, with vehicles from the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division. The 4,000-soldier unit, the Army’s first Stryker Brigade Combat Team, in 2003 was the first Stryker brigade to be sent to Iraq and is returning to Iraq next month to replace one from Alaska.
Seven convoys arrived Wednesday at the Port of Olympia, and more are planned through next week, said Joseph Hitt, a civilian spokesman at Fort Lewis.
Authorities would not give the name of the ship that will carry the equipment or say when it was expected to dock.
On Thursday, there were no protesters at the port, and two convoys arrived without incident, Bjornstad said.
Those arrested Wednesday, all booked for investigation of pedestrian interference and released, were identified as Douglas Brinkerhoff, 18; Patricia Imani, 44; Joseph Keesler, 22; Tanya Kinigstein, 18; Sandy Mayes 51; Melissa Roberts, 44; Gabrielle Sloane, 23; Chris Stegman, 55; and a 16-year-old boy who was also arrested Tuesday.
“I think these arrests are a little overkill,” said Joshua Elliot, 25, one of the protesters who was arrested, booked and released Tuesday. “The people being arrested are doing everything they can to have their voices heard.”
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