A pro-Palestinian protest shut down much of the traffic flow into Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on Monday afternoon.
Part of what organizers called a “global call for an economic blockade” on April 15, Tax Day, protesters called for an end to the Israel-Hamas war. Police arrested 46 people accused of blocking the expressway leading to the airport.
Representatives for the event organizer, A15 Seattle, Alaska Airlines and Port of Seattle police, did not immediately respond Tuesday to inquiries about the demonstration from the Times.
Here’s what we know:
What happened?
Video of the rush-hour demonstration showed people and cars blocking the roadway, with some protesters waving Palestinian flags and lifting a banner reading, “Our taxes are funding genocide.” The protest began around 3 p.m. Monday and continued for about three hours.
Footage of the protest showed some people lying in the street and others locked arm-in-arm using the “sleeping dragon” technique, which has participants form a human chain by linking their arms inside PVC tubing. The technique tends to slow down police, as cutting off the tubing runs the risk of injuring protesters.
Police led demonstrators away in handcuffs shortly before 6 p.m. as tow trucks removed vehicles blocking the roadway. Thirty arrestees were booked Monday night into the South Correctional Entity jail, or SCORE, in Des Moines about 2 miles south of the airport, and 16 others were booked into the King County Jail, according to King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office spokesperson Casey McNerthney.
Who are the protesters?
A15 Seattle, which organized the protest, wrote in an Instagram post last week that it planned to “identify and blockade major choke points in the economy … with the aim of causing the most economic impact,” but did not specify where the protest would happen. On Sunday, the group advertised three events for Monday — at U.S. Rep. Adam Smith’s office, UW light rail station and the federal courthouse in Tacoma — but not at the airport.
The protesters demanded “no more U.S. arms to support Israel,” one Seattle demonstrator said in footage posted online by the event organizer Monday afternoon. An email from organizers pointed to Alaska Airlines’ partnership with Boeing, which supplies planes and other military equipment to the Israel Defense Forces.
Protesters calling for an end to the war and to U.S. aid to Israel have blocked Seattle-area streets nearly every week since October.
How did this protest affect travel from the airport?
McNerthney said demonstrators prevented cars from accessing the airport’s terminal and passenger drop-off areas.
Still, the protest had a “pretty minimal” impact on flight operations, partly because it wasn’t a busy time of day for flights, the airport spokesperson Perry Cooper said Monday.
On Tuesday, he said about two dozen flights were delayed, the majority for 20 minutes or less. A couple international flights were delayed for up to 90 minutes, because their crews were caught in the traffic, Cooper said.
What happened to the protesters after their arrest? Will they face charges?
Port of Seattle Police is recommending SeaTac City Attorney’s Office to charge those arrested with disorderly conduct, failure to disperse or both, Cooper said. Both charges are misdemeanors.
All 46 arrested have been released after making bail, Cooper said.
In January, protesters calling for a cease-fire in Gaza shut down northbound I-5 just south of Mercer Street, blocking traffic for about five hours on a Saturday afternoon.
Washington State Patrol referred misdemeanor charges against 12 protesters, but King County prosecutors sent the cases back to the agency, writing that they couldn’t move forward without additional evidence. WSP sent additional information to prosecutors on March 21, and it is under review, McNerthney said.
Seattle Times reporters Caitlyn Freeman and Lauren Girgis contributed to this report.