Rallies organized by Christian right turn into clashes resulting in about 30 arrests
Seattle was stop on nationwide tour of groups backing conservative causes
No question about it: The Mayday USA Tour, an effort by outspoken Christian-right opponents of abortion, child trafficking and the LGTBQ movement, was designed to be provocative — a promotional video for a series of rallies beginning in New York earlier this month starts out with scenes of arson and rioting and casts the fight in apocalyptic terms: “Will you allow your generation to be destroyed, or will you step onto the scene of destiny? The choice is yours,” the narrator begins.
But how provocative the tour would turn out to be didn’t become clear until Saturday, as Seattle police arrested 20-some counterprotesters at a city park named for Washington state’s first openly gay legislator. That in turn led to Seattle’s mayor, Bruce Harrell, accusing the Christians, many of them affiliated with churches in Spokane and Seattle, of trying “to provoke a reaction by promoting beliefs that are inherently opposed to our city’s values.”
And that in turn led to one of the organizing churches, Pursuit NW, calling for Harrell’s resignation and scheduling a rally near City Hall on Tuesday. Holding the rally under the mildly threatening label of “Rattle in Seattle,” the parishioners heard boisterous speeches denouncing both Harrell and the liberal political climate and followed that with the singing of hymns.
And again there were arrests of counterprotesters, this time about eight, according to news accounts.
The arrests came to the apparent delight of the church supporters, who erupted into chants of “SPD! SPD! SPD!” for “Seattle Police Department” at their downtown rally.
For their part, police didn’t appear enthused about the turn of events. A statement from the Seattle Police Officers Guild criticized the city for allowing the Saturday rally to be held at Cal Anderson Park, at the center of the city’s most LGTBQ-friendly zone, putting the police in an “untenable predicament.” (News accounts said that the city suggested the site as an alternative the Pike Place Market, as a location away from downtown would be less disruptive.)
Although some details of the events remain unknown, some facts are clear:
One is that Pursuit NW and others supporting the rallies don’t seem to mind seeing themselves as aligned with the MAGA movement. Speaking before Tuesday’s rally, Johnson wore a red hat in the style of the MAGA hats but with an inscription that said “Make prayer great again” in all capital letters. And much of the language used during the rally mirrored that heard at Donald Trump rallies.
A press release issued by Pursuit NW prior to Tuesday’s rally accused Harrell and the City Council of “religious bigotry.” And the group summarized the events of three days earlier like this:
Following the Mayday USA worship event at Cal Anderson Park on Saturday, Mayor Harrell had the audacity aimed to issue a press release blaming Christians for the premeditated violence of Antifa which resulted in the hospitalization of Seattle Police Department personal [sic] and the arrest of 23 Antifa agitators. …
Mayor Harrell has aligned himself with the most extreme elements of Antifa. … Seattle deserves better than a radical lefist who tramples on the religious freedoms of citizens while providing cover for violent extremists to abuse police officers, attack Christians, and destroy a city.
Despite the church’s claim, Harrell had not directly blamed the church for the violence. Although Harrell said the church had sought a reaction to its stance, he said it was “anarchists” who had “inspired” the violence.
The final rally of the Mayday USA Tour will be held Saturday in Los Angeles.