Williams agreed, saying police might not have been ready for the sheer number protest groups in spite of efforts to prepare. My sense is that Seattle is experiencing an onslaught of people from all over the country that the Seattle police know very little about and have no contact with, and so as a consequence, their intelligence is limited. That really impacts on their planning effort. Seattle officials did in fact meet with leaders of protest groups in the days before the demonstration. On Tuesday, several of these leaders blamed outside agitators for much of the looting and disturbances.
Experts say no.
Still, protesters and observers were angered by the police response. That didn't seem to us to be an appropriate use of force. Seattle police defended their tactics, saying that few people were harmed by the sprays. You make your own conclusions. The Associated Press also reported that police were using rubber bullets to disperse crowds, but Huserik said he could not confirm those reports.