Connelly: Is Seattle exhausted from too many demonstrations? May Day march fizzles after 100 days of protest

A smaller, but lively crowd gathers at Judkins Park for the Immigrant and Labor Rights March on Monday, May 1, 2017. A smaller, but lively crowd gathers at Judkins Park for the Immigrant and Labor Rights March on Monday, May 1, 2017. Photo: GRANT HINDSLEY, SEATTLEPI.COM Photo: GRANT HINDSLEY, SEATTLEPI.COM Image 1 of / 83 Caption Close Connelly: Is Seattle exhausted from too many demonstrations? 1 / 83 Back to Gallery

The long march from Judkins Park ended at just past 4:30 p.m. as several hundred May Day marchers streamed onto the lawn in front of Fisher Pavilion at the Seattle Center, and almost as quickly began to wander off.

The turnout, on a cold, raw Seattle spring day, was a shadow of the vast crowd of the women's march on Jan. 21, or the spirited March for Science on April 22. Both ended at the Seattle Center.

Of course, the crowd of marchers earlier in the day was larger, but -- let's admit it -- May Day in Seattle gets this year's buildup-letdown award. The multi-cause show of solidarity fizzled.

Is the Emerald City played out and exhausted from a regimen of nonstop demonstrating?

We've seen the Black Lives Matter and Tax Day marches one Saturday, followed by the March for Climate a week later. The People's Climate March came a week after that, and -- following 48 hours later -- May Day.

The annual march for immigrant rights is a May Day milestone, and much more.

The marches here and across the country have served as a Latino show of strength, of particular impact in 2006 when Republicans of the House Judiciary Committee were trying to pass a draconian immigration bill.

The legislation would have required private and religious organizations to rat on the immigration status of those receiving their services. The marches in Seattle and other cities were enormous.

Alas, this year, the languid scene at the Seattle Center won't scare Donald Trump, or make House Republicans Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Dave Reichert think twice about backing his immigration policy.

Sad, because the dangers to America's immigrant communities are as great or greater than they were a decade ago.

Up at St. Mark's Cathedral, on May Day morning, a Sanctuary Movement of religious organizations were promising to provide "respite and refuge" to potential victims of ICE raids and sweeps.

As well, elements of the Seattle protest community seem bent on keeping their eyes on their own prize.

The Stranger reported, at insomnia-curing length, on disagreements that kept apart the Black Lives Matter and Tax Day protests. The squabble evoked Dr. Henry Kissinger's famous remark that academic fights are so vicious because the stakes are so low.

It's a wonder how they expect the media to cover everything. We had, last Friday, a protest outside the Canadian Consulate against the Keystone XL pipeline running at about the same time as a grandstanding Seattle City Council member Kshama Sawant was appearing at a news conference with -- let's be blunt, using -- local labor leaders.

In advance of May Day, opponents of the planned juvenile justice center were seeking attention for their event, as were organizers of a labor action against Amazon.

Original plans called for a march from the University of Washington to the Center that would join the Judkins Park-to-the-Center march.

The constant stream of protests, and cacophony of causes, have detracted from our city delivering the kind of direct, clear show of strength that stopped House Republicans' immigration bill in its tracks 11 years ago.

As well, Seattle has been caught up in soon-forgotten symbolic acts. The current Seattle City Council seems to have, as its overriding purpose, sending Sawant's crowd of demonstrators home happy.

Politics ain't beanbag, the famous saying goes.

There's a deep reservoir of resistance to Donald Trump in a city that gave him only 8 percent of the vote and less than a quarter of King County's vote ... despite the handful of pro-Trump protesters who turned out at Westlake.

The message of this May Day to the Seattle left is that resistance ought to have a clear message. Oh yes, it shouldn't be coming from a Trotskyist on the city council.