Over 1500 march in Seattle demanding justice for Alex Pretti
Seattle, WA – Over 1500 protesters took to the streets of downtown Seattle on the evening of January 24 demanding justice for Alex Pretti, who was murdered in Minneapolis earlier that day.
The march came after a rally and vigil organized by the Seattle Alliance Against Racist Political Repression (SAARPR), Seattle Against War (SAW), Defund Musk, the International League of People’s Struggles (ILPS), The Defend Migrants Alliance, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), Indivisible Seattle, and the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO).
On the morning of January 24, Seattleites woke up to a host of disturbing videos showing the public execution of Alex Pretti by federal immigration agents with United States Border Patrol (USBP) in broad daylight. The obvious criminality of the act shocked all who witnessed it, and Seattle activists wasted no time calling for a public demonstration in opposition to continued federal attacks on the people.
The organizations chose to rally at the Henry M. Jackson Federal Building because it is the seat of federal power in Seattle, and the most obvious target for the people of Seattle to make a statement to the U.S. government that they will be held accountable. By 5:30 p.m. the crowd was several hundred strong and people were chanting “Justice for Alex Pretti” and “ICE out of Seattle.”
To open the rally program, AJ Daniels, a new member of SAARPR, said that this rally and vigil was a reaction to the unjustified killing of Alex Pretti, who should be an inspiration for all people wishing to express solidarity with nationally oppressed people in the face of targeted government violence.
“The will of the people does not stop,” said Jonathan Toledo, branch chair of SAARPR, as he gave a speech sharing his indignation at the targeted attacks on the Chicano people, Central and South American immigrants, Somali immigrants, and others.
A speaker from BAYAN Seattle spoke for the Defend Migrants Alliance, sharing stories from the Northwest Detention Center, where a person suffered severe medical neglect at the hands of the GEO group, leading to the amputation of his toe and severe heart problems. He said that the situation of Filipino migrants is deeply related to the imperialist exploitation of the country at the hands of the United States, which causes waves of forced migration from the Philippines to serve as a cheap and easily exploitable labor force around the world.
A highlight of the program was a speech from Nolan Good, speaking for the FRSO, who with great emotion shared the story of a five-year-old recently detained by ICE and shared how, as an early child educator, he was moved to tears at the thought of the five-year-old children he cares for on a daily basis facing that experience. Good made a strong call to get organized and take up the call for revolution. “When the people come together and act as one, there is no amount of police or ICE agents, no matter how well armed or institutionally protected, that can stand in the way of the people’s will!”