Savvy Seattle

Now you can cross the border at cheap prices and hours earlier than the Amtrak.

Seattle is ranked as the 6th.

Huge protests, and it sounds like this is only the beginning. There were also Cascadia independence flags and anarchists out there. Arrests have been made.

UPDATE: 2:08 p.m. | Seattle police say they have made arrests, but they aren’t giving up any numbers yet.

UPDATE: 2:05 p.m. | Seattle Times photographers on the scene have sent many photos from the streets.

UPDATE: 1:50 p.m. | More about damage: At the Washington Athletic Club building at 6th and Union, protesters smashed a large plate-glass window that was part of the HSBC branch.

Across the street at the 2 Union Square building, in vacant office space, there was a 6-inch hole in a window. A security guard pointed to a rock inside that had been thrown through it.

Half a block away, the owner of a silver Porche Cayenne would be greeted with a spray-painted green anarchy symbol on the hood when they returned.

UPDATE: 1:45 p.m. | Cops say damage to stores and vehicles downtown amounts to “thousands and thousands ” ofdollars as vandals struck store windows, cars, just about everything in their path.  Officers followed them to Westlake Park where many of the vandals were reportedly changing out of the black clothes they wore while smashing windows.

UPDATE: 1:20 p.m. | The group dressed in black appears to have dispersed for the most part by now, some folks saying they have mingled with the now 500 or so protesters gathered at Westlake Park. People there are listening to a rap concert.

UPDATE: 1:10 p.m. | Those bent on doing damage, who call themselves Black Blockers, broke out the front windows of Niketown and several windows of American Apparel next door. Graffiti was put on Fidelity Investments at the corner of Sixth Avenue and Pike Street. Police have blocked Pine Street and were moving along Sixth toward Westlake Park.

UPDATE: 1: p.m. | Protesters have broken windows in several places downtown and police were using tear gas and force to stop them. Police had chased the group dressed in black — the ones who vandalized the federal courthouse — down Sixth Avenue, then on Olive, then back up Fifth.

Meanwhile, many protesters returned to Westlake Park and are giving speeches and rallying.

UPDATE: 12:40 p.m. | Protesters are starting to do damage. They stopped briefly at the U.S. Court of Appeals, broke a window and set a small fire in front of the door. They also shot paintballs at the building. A large swarm of people dressed in black and carrying polls with flags on them were moving through the streets.

UPDATE: 12:20 p.m. | A group of about 50 demonstrators, several carrying small red and black flags, just before noon from Seattle Central Community College on their way to Westlake Park, to meet what they expect to be a larger crowd of May Day protesters.

An advertised “bike swarm” hardly materialized, as only 10 cyclists participated here.

The walkers passed through the college’s main building twice, then headed north on Broadway, in the northbound road lane.

Liam Wright, a student leader of the march, led a chant: “When the people of the world are under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!” Earlier, he called the event an “anti-capitalist” march.

While this and larger rallies throughout the world are meant to raise awareness of plutocracy, demonstrators have their own diverse causes.

Lisa Marcus, carrying a bucket of tulips and lilacs on her bicycle, handed out leaflets opposing oil extraction from the Alberta tar sands. A woman named Alex, in the bike escort group, said she simply enjoys being on a ride with other people — and opposes a new juvenile detention center on 12th Avenue.

Before the march, Wright said basic classes at the college are too crowded, and he perceives a shift toward making it merely of a “trade school” for job training. He said the college has a tradition of including progressive, even radical activism.

Michael Pham, vice president for administrative services, said the rally didn’t disrupt any classes. The marchers were a mix of students and others.

At the last big Occupy rally in Seattle, some people in a breakaway group threw wood and metal at police, as officers and horses advanced toward a small crowd on Harbor Island. Traffic disruptions are expected this afternoon downtown, and Mayor Mike McGinn has warned of potential violence.

10:45 a.m. | Concerned that anarchists and possible violence may disrupt of May Day protests converging on downtown Seattle today, the Young Composer Workshop concert at Benaroya Hall has been canceled.

Traffic congestion also was an issue, according to the letter sent to participants of the event Monday.

According to the letter from Thomasina Adams, school programs manager with the Seattle Symphony:

All evening our Executive Director and senior managers have been discussing whether or not we should continue with the scheduled concert. In the end our executive team felt that the safety and well being of the students and families should be the number priority and so they made the decision to postpone the Young Composers Workshop concert.

Authorities say the protests and marches are likely to cause traffic disruptions and warn that there’s a possibility peaceful demonstrations will be disrupted by people wanting to incite mayhem.

May Day protests, marches and entertainment are likely to cause traffic disruptions in Seattle on Tuesday. Authorities are warning that there’s a possibility peaceful demonstrations will be disrupted by people wanting to incite mayhem.

By Jim Brunner

Several political rallies and marches are set to converge Tuesday on downtown Seattle, prompting local officials to warn of traffic disruptions and a possibility that anarchists could use peaceful demonstrations as cover to incite mayhem.

Occupy Seattle organizers, calling for a citywide general strike, plan to gather at Westlake Park for speeches, hip-hop performances and an “anti-Capitalist march” at noon.

Many of those protesters may link up in the evening with the annual May Day march by immigrant-rights activists. The march is scheduled to start at Judkins Park in the city’s Central Area at 5 p.m., with thousands expected to march downtown for rallies in front of the Federal Building and Wells Fargo building.

There also were calls for a “bike swarm” to accompany an 11:15 a.m. walkout by some students at…(click link to read more)