Day 1

Attended a protest today, what I assume will be the first of many protesting the new president. Honestly it wasn't terribly impressive, my guess there were maybe two or three thousand all told and if there was any organizing force behind it they didn't make themselves felt, there was the usual shouting in Pioneer Square followed by a seemingly random jaunt though the city that turned out to be a result of the police herding the protest to a specific area where they then demanded it disperse.

My wife and I had broken off from the march once we heard the police over their loudspeakers and noted the rapid increase in riot police along the route. Which means we missed the actual confrontation part, which was thankfully not as bad as it could have been while still being worse than it needed to be. Unprovoked violence was still the story of the day, but only from the police side in any real amount, six people in total were arrested. Not the heavy handed response that could have been, but I don't feel like that was the point, it was just a demonstration of power there, like they were letting the protestors have their fun, but wanted to remind them as well that they walk free only under sufferance. We'll see how much of that "restraint" is in evidence tomorrow.

I saw no evidence of counter protestors or undercover pro Trump double agents fomenting violence. I am sure there were probably a few of both, but they didn't seem to accomplish much as far as I could tell.

For something we all knew was coming, it seemed poorly organized, with a multitude of different groups dominating their immediate surroundings, but clashing with other groups on the outskirts, the end result being that at a lot of points it was not possible to hear chants and such. Which ranged from announcements that the streets our ours, which I do not disagree with, to specifically denouncing Trump himself in no uncertain terms. Again, nothing I disagree with, but also not really a coherent message.

I am looking forward to the Women's March tomorrow, though I have to work and won't be in attendance as my bosses do not consider joining a protest an appropriate excuse to skip work, also they have a pretty unsupportive view of the action in general, they aren't pro Trump mind you, but they are anti protest, so whatever.

Anyway, tomorrow seems better organized, and of course coordinated with others across the nation.