What's really at stake in Seattle Economists speak out on the issues behind the World Trade Organization summit and the street protests. Everyone was sent home from work at 5 p.m., but it was impossible to get home. All the buses stopped running downtown, so you had to walk to Denny Way to catch one. I tried getting through downtown, but I kept running into crowds of protesters running the other way. When I tried going up Third Avenue, I was just in time for another round of tear-gas canisters.
Tear gas sucks.
It tastes like you just swallowed a box of used fireworks. Your eyes sting and you want to rub them, but rubbing them just makes them sting worse. You start coughing and don't feel like you can breathe right. This brings on panic, and you just want to get away from the gas. I saw one guy who was almost trampled when he collapsed after taking a couple of lungfuls of the gas.