The concrete bunker that is the Centre is guarded day and night by riot police and the national guard. The streets around are almost deserted of ordinary people.
Roadblocks control the entry points.
The shops are boarded up. The restaurants are closed. Even the Starbucks Coffee houses, symbol of Seattle's way of life, are shut up. One of them was trashed the other night, right across the road from the Westin hotel where President Clinton has been staying, closely guarded of course. This is Fort Seattle.