I was at the entrance to the Port of Seattle's Terminal 18 and I witnessed the brutal assaults of protesters who were already on the ground. I was so outraged by the brutality SPD was using against the protesters it was putting under arrest that I started yelling SHAME! SHAME! SHAME! so loudly that I startled a couple of SPD officers nearby.
The scene at Terminal 18 as police reinforcements were arriving in large numbers.
Rev. John Helmiere, Seattle Priest: Police Kept Punching Me and Punching Me
Rev. John Helmiere says he told police that he came to the Port of Seattle protest because "I'm a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ, I believe another world is possible." That response, he says, came just after a cop threw him down and repeatedly punched him in the face.
Helmiere, the founder of Valley & Mountain Fellowship Church in Rainier Valley, has a long narrative posted today on the Valley & Mountain blog about his day at the port's Terminal 18 protest and it's worth a read.
He says that he was repeatedly shouting "keep the peace" to other protestors when officers advanced on the crowd and he soon found himself being thrown to the ground and punched repeatedly before being taken to jail.
I stood before an entrance to Pier 18 of the Seattle Port in my clergy garb bellowing, "Keep the Peace! Keep the Peace!" An officer pulled me down from behind and threw me to the asphalt. Between my cries of pain and shouts of "I'm a man of peace!" he pressed a knee to my spine and immobilized my arms behind my back, crushing me against the ground. With the right side of my face pressed to the street, he repeatedly punched the left side of my face for long enough that I had time to pray that the crunching sounds I heard were not damaging my brain. I was cuffed and pulled off the ground by a different officer who seemed genuinely appalled when he saw my face and clerical collar. He asked who I was and why I was here, to which I replied, "I'm a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ, I believe another world is possible." He led me shaking to a police van where began a 12-hour journey of incarcerated misery.
On the lKOMO TV News Rev. Helmiere said was denied medical treatment during his incarceration. He suffered damage to his inner ear during the unprovoked police beating.
Rev. Helmiere also said he wants to reach out to the officers who beat him. What an inspiration Rev. Helmiere is to us all, to follow the path of peace nonviolence and reconciliation.
Here is a video of Rev. Helmiere made shortly before the beating.