This post was originally published on this site
Intro by Megan Seling
By the time it started to drizzle on Saturday afternoon, the crowd at Seattle Center was tens of thousands of people deep. The crowd roared with cheers, applause, and cowbell when the afternoon’s host, OneAmerica’s Immigration Advocacy Manager Soumyo Lahiri-Gupta, announced that the rain wasn’t going to silence the people.
There were an estimated 90,000 demonstrators crowded onto the lawn in front of Fisher Pavilion, and ringed around the inside and outside of the International Fountain. There were signs and balloons and costumes as far as the eye could see—from Climate Pledge to MoPop—with a constant slow-moving river of new arrivals flowing up and down the east and west sides of the park as more and more attendees tried to file into the Seattle Center to get a glimpse of the scene.
And it was a scene, more absurd than angry in the best way possible. People were pissed—and thousands of them held signs saying as much—but if there’s anything to learn from Saturday’s No Kings rally, it’s that Seattle isn’t the city turned to dust that Trump has been yelling about for years, a city that burned to the ground in 2020 only to be rebuilt by MAGA-hunting, America-hating Antifa anarchists.
We’re weirdos, but we’re not warlords. Taking a cue from Portland’s brilliantly goofy move to prove just how not-war-torn the Pacific Northwest is, Seattlites came dressed up as axolotl, dinosaurs, squirrels, sharks, chickens, frogs, unicorns, and, of course, Saint Rat. One person, dressed as Lady Liberty, chased around about a half dozen ICE lice with “due process” insecticide. The bugs, wearing impressively detailed lice costumes and ICE uniforms, writhed and wiggled to their “deaths” on a giant copy of the Constitution while onlookers cheered and laughed.
Across the park volunteers carted around wagons, passing out free water and snacks, while some folks (okay, me) stopped to buy a Shishkaberry because nothing says American Enemy more than exercising your right to demonstrate while freely chomping down rainbow sprinkle-covered strawberries on a stick.
After speeches from guests that included Jaelynn Scott of the Lavender Project, King County Council Member Girmay Zahilay, and Rep. Pramila Jayapal, it came time to march. That’s when pure chaos ensued. Just kidding. The tens of thousands of demonstrators and amphibians politely poured out of the Seattle Center towards Westlake Center via Fifth Avenue. They danced and cheered and chanted their way out of the park for more than an hour.
Here are some photos of how the frog, flag, and rat-filled afternoon unfolded.
