Antifa Protesters Sue Seattle Over ‘Forced’ Armor Upgrades

A lawsuit has been filed against the city of Seattle by several protesters, who claim that the Seattle Police Department’s “indiscriminate” us of chemical and less-lethal crowd control measures forced them to buy “expensive” protective gear in order to withstand the tactical response to their violent resistance, according to KIRO7.

“Because the Seattle Police Department has acted above and outside the law in dispensing its unbridled force, and the City has failed to prevent same, the government effect is to establish a de facto protest tax,” reads the legal complaint, filed Monday. “Individual protesters subjected to SPD’s unabated and indiscriminate violence now must purchase cost-prohibitive gear to withstand munitions – even when peacefully protesting – as a condition to exercising their right to free speech and peaceable assembly.”

The suit, filed on behalf of five protesters who attended the July 25 protest on Capitol Hill that police later declared a riot, seeks an order from a judge to stop the city from using controversial crowd control tactics on protesters, including blast balls and pepper spray.

It’s the latest lawsuit against the city of Seattle for its handling of protests that have continued in the wake of George Floyd’s killing. In response to a separate case related to these tactics, involving Black Lives Matter Seattle-King County, the city has argued officers’ actions were directed at individuals and were not indiscriminate. –KIRO7

“But the continued misuse of war munitions by SPD against civilians turns the streets – a public forum and site of protest – into a pay-to-protest racket where only a privileged few who are wealthy enough or popular enough to crowdsource funds to purchase gear akin to that used by the police department they fund can truly be in the streets,” the lawsuit continues.

The Seattle City Attorney’s Office told KIRO7 that they would be looking into the claims, adding “The relief these plaintiffs seek is related to recent orders issued by Judge Robart and Judge Jones, so we’ll be filing a Notice of Related Cases with the court.”

Perhaps they need to speak with thir Comrades to the South and borrow some shields and whatnot: