Olympia, WA: Rowdy Critical Mass Turns Into Arrest

national | economic and social justice | repost Saturday September 27, 2008 18:29 by car bombs, not cars

This Friday saw one of the largest Critical Mass bike rides Olympia has seen all year. With over 80 people celebrating anti-car culture the mass blocked all lanes of traffic, chanted things like, "Car bombs, not cars!", sang songs, harassed motorists, and spit on pro-war sign holders and anti-choice sign holders. One person, towards the end of the ride, was arrested for allegedly writing an anti pro-life message on a truck belonging to the anti-choicers.

The ride started out on Red Square at the Evergreen State College at 5:00pm with many people joining in along the way. The mass shouted and cheered as they drove by, feeling the power they shared together. Many people were vocally opposed to the existence of cars and shouted insults and other words of anger at SUV's and expensive looking cars for the poison they spew and the lives they take. When the yuppies yelled back, some even pretended to shoot them.

After gliding down the West Side hill, cyclists approached downtown, they noticed there were some pro-war protesters holding signs, a lot of people ridiculed them and a few spit on them as the mass mozied along 4th Ave. After stopping for water at the artesian well, and waiting for a few people to finish writing pro-bike messages on the wall, the mass moved onward to the Capitol building, where a few people defaced government property with bike graffiti. When approaching downtown a few riders noticed that the anti-choicers were outside of Planned Parenthood and decided to pay them a visit. After yelling at them and spitting on them the mass headed toward the Port of Olympia where people decided to enter and check out what was going on in the port. It was after this that the arrest occurred.

Daniel Wilson was riding his bike toward the end of the crowd when he was cut off by a po-lice SUV. One car quickly turned into 3 cars, including an undercover. The po-lice got out and demanded that he get off of his bicycle. Daniel was arrested for Malicious Mischief misdemeanor for allegedly writing on a poster attached to the van of a pro-life group. Daniel is released now, but is facing a troubled situation seeing that he was arrested at the May Day protest here. We are all worried that this may negatively effect his court case. Our hearts are with him.

If anyone wants to come and support Daniel Wilson, his next court date is:

Monday, 8:30am, September, 29
909 8th Ave, SE Olympia, WA

Or if you want to send money:
socialrupture@gmail.com

~For a world without cars...

(p.s. solidarity actions are welcomed)