Community praises Seattle police on how they handled May Day violence

SEATTLE -- As downtown businesses made repairs a day after Sunday's May Day violence, one of the big takeaways from the clashes was the preparation of the Seattle police.

“I`m relieved because I heard another business had their glass shattered,” Dr. Martens employee Lisa Nihiser said.

Employees at Dr. Martens were relieved their glass storefront escaped the May Day damage, but some businesses did not fare as well. There was broken glass at the Starbucks in Westlake and a rock was thrown through a window at Target.

As protesters grew violent, a wall of police officers made it clear that protesters could not march anywhere they wanted like in previous years.

Dozens of anti-capitalists marchers wearing all-black improvised, disrupting 4th Avenue and then 2nd Avenue, where an officer was injured when someone threw a rock. Police responded by using pepper spray to keep the crowd back from doing more damage to the officers and the properties behind them.

“When it becomes violent and property damage gets significant, we have to do something and we did,” Police Chief Kathleen O’Toole said.

Five officers were injured and a couple of others in the media hurt after getting caught up in the clashes. About three hours into the march, half of the protesters had vanished and the rest ended up corralled in a Costco parking lot in Seattle's Sodo district. When we tried to speak to one of the protesters at the end of the night, the protester shoved our camera and the conversation went nowhere.

“I think the majority of the people in the city are just fed up with it,” Nihiser said.

Nihiser says she feels lucky but credited the quick work of Seattle Police for keeping the destruction to a minimum.

“I’ve read a lot of positive reaction to the police reaction and how they kept everybody and everyone safe,” Nihiser said.