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Anti-capitalists clash with Seattle police on May Day

A woman is helped after being pepper-sprayed during an anti-capitalism protest Sunday, May 1, 2016, in Seattle. (Genna Martin / seattlepi.com)
A woman is helped after being pepper-sprayed during an anti-capitalism protest Sunday, May 1, 2016, in Seattle. (Genna Martin / seattlepi.com)
Associated Press

SEATTLE – Seattle police used pepper spray Sunday evening to disperse anti-capitalist protesters after authorities said rocks, flares and bricks were thrown at officers downtown.

Police also said Molotov cocktails were thrown at them.

At least seven people were arrested. Authorities said two officers were hurt – one treated at the scene for a head laceration. Details about the other officer’s injury weren’t immediately available.

Dozens of black-clad people gathered at Westlake Park in downtown following a peaceful, permitted May Day march earlier in the day by advocates for workers and immigrants.

The anti-capitalist demonstrators, who did not have a permit from city officials, carried signs, including one that said “We Are Ungovernable.” The group gathered at the downtown park before starting to march through the streets.

Some downtown businesses had earlier boarded up storefronts, anticipating violence. Seattle police reported seeing people with poles with bolts, rocks and cans of spray paint in the crowd. Police said there was some property damage, including broken window at a residential building.

“This is no longer a peaceful march,” Steve Wilske, Seattle Police assistant chief, said in a statement on Twitter.

Seattle traditionally sees large, disruptive May Day gatherings. Last year police arrested 16 people during demonstrations and in 2014 10 people were arrested. In 2013, police arrested 18 people from a crowd that pelted them with rocks and bottles. Storefronts in downtown Seattle have also been smashed in previous protests.

Wilske had called the earlier march through downtown for workers and immigrants “very successful.”

Many participants in that gathering carried signs and flags as they made their way through the city under sunny skies. May Day activities were also staged in other Northwest cities such as Portland and Yakima.

Seattle police escorted the marchers for the permitted parade. There was also a concert at Seattle’s Westlake Park.

In Portland, hundreds of people attended a Sunday rally.

The Yakima May Day march concluded at an elementary school in Union Gap. The Yakima Herald-Republic reported about 200 people finished the march. The day’s events began early Sunday morning in Granger.

An evening rally was planned at MLK Elementary in Union Gap.