Seattle, WA – The Seattle Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (SAARPR) held a rally at Cal Anderson Park. September 6, as a crowd of around 50 people listened to speakers demanding the city of Seattle move to community control of the police.

Cole Palmer, emcee and SAARPR member, said, “Community control of the police is an avenue not only for demilitarization, defunding and reallocating of resources, but also abolition.”

A central component of SAARPR’s demand for community control is subjecting the budget, union and policies of the Seattle Police Department to the will of the people through an elected civilian body.

Along with the demands for community control, there was an agreement between everybody in the crowd that a major roadblock to progress was the local police union, the Seattle Police Officer’s Guild, or SPOG. Other speakers included members of Anakbayan, union members from labor groups who supported SPOG’s removal from the King County Labor Council, and leaders from other local organizations.

At the end of the rally, the crowd was led in a reciting of Assata Shakur’s Famous quote:

“It is our duty to fight for our freedom. It is our duty to win. We must love each other and support each other. We have nothing to lose but our chains.”

#SeattleWA #ANAKBAYAN #CommunityControlOfThePolice #SeattleAllianceAgainstRacistAndPoliticalRepressionSAARPR