Seattle Central is Occupied

Protesters start to put up tents around 7:40 at Seattle Central on October 29.

The Seattle Occupation packed up its tents and moved to the Seattle Central Community College campus on Capitol Hill on Oct. 29.  The protesters plan on staying at SCCC at night and continuing the protest at Westlake Park during the day.

The move was voted in at the General Assembly at Westlake on Monday, Oct. 24. 

Komo 4's Tricia Manning-Smith on the scene.

On Wednesday, Oct. 26 the Seattle Central Administration released an open letter stating the occupiers were not welcome on campus.  Then, on Friday, Oct. 28, SCCC President Paul Kilpatrick released a memo describing the occupation as “lawful freedom of speech activities.”

The change came after Kilpatrick met with campus legal advisors and members of Occupy Seattle, who stated they would clean up after and police themselves.

View of the Occupy camp's first night at Seattle Central on October 29.

The protesters also offered assurances they would not interfere with the SCCC mission statement “to promote educational excellence in a multicultural urban environment, and provide opportunities for academic achievement, workplace preparation, and service to the community.” 

The situation early on Saturday, Oct. 29 was a joyful one; many of the occupiers showed up in costume for a Halloween celebration, including a particularly memorable Bert and Ernie chanting “Occupy Sesame Street!”

Guest speakers spoke in the plaza, including a man dressed up in The Joker makeup with dollar bills around his neck, representing corporate greed and telling the crowd how much he disliked their actions.   The speech was greeted with boos and laughter.  In the background the promised honey buckets arrived, as the food and medical tent handed out donated pizza and vegan food.

Around 7 p.m. tents started to go up, and as the evening progressed people began playing music and dancing.  Many protesters seemed to be happier to have a base camp to sleep at which wouldn’t involve a constant battle with the police, as had been happening at Westlake.

Photos and story by Ian Buck.