Those damn outside agitators. That was Mayor Paul Schell's take on Seattle's Second Annual Pioneer Square Mardi Gras Riots. Presumably, Schell believes drunken bozos from Bellevue instigated the violence last weekend, and not the black-clad anarchists from Eugene, Oregon whom Schell blamed when windows were broken downtown during the WTO riots last year. Witness the inauguration in D.C., the Million Youth March in Harlem, National Puerto Rican Day Parade in Manhattan, and the L.A. Lakers celebration in Los Angeles.
Riots happen in cities the way floods happen in rural areas.
It was not the same pattern of behavior that we've seen in the last 20 years. It was a meaner edge. I asked the police for the addresses of the people who were arrested, and they were from suburban cities. They were coming to town to have a good time, and they didn't carry a sense of responsibility about our city. Namely, it identifies Schell's true constituency.