Seattle May Day Riot Commandos: What Looks Different

Looking through the photos from the Seattle May Day confrontation with police following the peaceful daytime marches, two things stood out to us. First, what Richard Reid did for the sneaker, it looks like the Tsarnaev brothers have done for the backpack.

“Beware backpacks! especially if you happen to belong to young foreign-looking men!”

Second, paramilitary police continue to up the ante when it comes to offensive weaponry, what with the employment in Seattle of pepper spray and and “flash bangs” or concussion grenades. It wasn’t that long ago that police would challenge the allegation they used pepper spray on citizenry being so furtive as to try and secrete the canisters from the cameras.

As a legacy of the Occupy movement, no doubt (1, 2, 3), all that has changed now. This photo not only shows the now standard crowd control tool in a screaming red can but it practically looks like an extension of the robo-biker’s arm.

images via photo gallery at Seattle Times