1999: WTO -- HistoryLink webcam of protests and a slideshow of each day (November 30-December 3), Seattle

  • Posted 11/03/2004
  • HistoryLink.org Essay 7117

These photos were taken on Monday, November 29, 1999, in downtown Seattle.

These photos were taken on Tuesday morning, November 30, 1999, in downtown Seattle. This was the first day of WTO meetings.

These photos were taken on Tuesday afternoon and evening, November 30, 1999, in downtown Seattle. That day was the first official day of the WTO conference. By noon there were about 35,000 protesters demonstrating in downtown Seattle.

These photos were taken on Wednesday, December 1, 1999, in downtown Seattle. On December 1, the WTO continued to hold its sessions and protests also continued. At 1 a.m. President Bill Clinton arrived at Boeing Field. Both sides held meetings, forums, and discussions throughout the day. National Guard troops were on duty and the City issued an order prohibiting citizens from wearing gas masks. Before the 7 p.m. curfew, police moved protesters out of the central business district and protesters moved up to Broadway on Capitol Hill. A melee ensued. There were many arrests on this day.

These photos were taken on Thursday, December 2, 1999, in downtown Seattle. The protests against the WTO continued. About 600 persons had by now been arrested and protesters turned attention to that.

These photos were taken on Friday, December 3, 1999, in downtown Seattle.

These photos were taken in downtown Seattle during the "N30" protests on the first anniversary of the WTO protests, November 30, 2000.

On that day opponents of the World Trade Organization (WTO) commemorated the 1999 protests in Seattle with several marches downtown. The marchers tied up traffic, occupied the Westlake Mall area for several hours, marched to Capitol Hill, and then returned to the downtown area. After hours of largely peaceful protest, Seattle Police arrested approximately 140 persons who failed to comply with a dispersal order.

This file presents a portion of HistoryLink's webcam of WTO protests in Seattle from November 30-December 3, 1999, and a slideshow showing images from each day of that historic event. The webcam was shot from HistoryLink's office on the fourth floor of the Joshua Green Building at 1425 4th Avenue, across from Westlake Park. To watch the time-lapse video of the protests taken by our webcam, click on the first image in the column to the left. 


Licensing: This essay is licensed under a Creative Commons license that encourages reproduction with attribution. Credit should be given to both HistoryLink.org and to the author, and sources must be included with any reproduction. Click the icon for more info. Please note that this Creative Commons license applies to text only, and not to images. For more information regarding individual photos or images, please contact the source noted in the image credit.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License
Major Support for HistoryLink.org Provided By: The State of Washington | Patsy Bullitt Collins | Paul G. Allen Family Foundation | Museum Of History & Industry | 4Culture (King County Lodging Tax Revenue) | City of Seattle | City of Bellevue | City of Tacoma | King County | The Peach Foundation | Microsoft Corporation, Other Public and Private Sponsors and Visitors Like You