Seattle WTO protests of 1999, in full Seattle World Trade Organization protests of 1999, also called Battle of Seattle, a series of marches, direct actions, and protests carried out from November 28 through December 3, 1999, that disrupted the World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference in Seattle, Washington. Comprising a broad and diffuse coalition of the American Federation of Labor–Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) and other labour unions, student groups, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), media activists, international farm and industrial workers, anarchists, and others, the Seattle WTO protests are often viewed as the inauguration of the antiglobalization movement.

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The Seattle WTO protests were some of the first major international mobilizations to be coordinated via the Internet. The protests were reported online with streaming audio and video clips by the Seattle Independent Media Center. While 400,000 people took part in a virtual sit-in of the WTO Web site organized by the Electrohippies Collective, more than 40,000 protesters (some estimates were as high as 60,000) were in Seattle to oppose everything from specific WTO policies to free trade and the human rights failures of globalization. Throughout the week, NGOs also sponsored debates, lectures, and teach-ins.

By the morning of November 30 (dubbed N30), an estimated 10,000 protesters surrounded the Paramount Theatre and Convention Center, where many WTO functions were being held. Through a variety of tactics, such as street theatre, sit-ins, chaining themselves together, and locking themselves to metal pipes in strategic locations, the protesters prevented the opening ceremony from taking place. In response to this civil disobedience, the police used pepper spray, tear gas, and rubber bullets in their efforts to disperse the crowd; some protesters responded in kind by throwing sticks and water bottles. At the same time, the permitted AFL-CIO People’s Rally and March of more than 25,000 activists began at Memorial Stadium. As the march gradually moved downtown toward the Convention Center, a few hundred anarchists used targeted “black bloc” property-destruction tactics against Starbucks, Nike, Nordstrom, and other stores, and a few protesters burned trash cans and broke store windows. By midday Seattle’s central business district was clogged with marchers and other protesters, and consequently several WTO events were cancelled. The police ran out of riot-control chemicals, and Mayor Paul Schell, looking to quell the massive protests in anticipation of President Bill Clinton’s arrival the following day, declared a curfew for 7 pm to 7 am in the area.

The following day, December 1, saw the illegalization of gas masks for the protestors and the creation of a 50-block “no protest zone” in the central business district. At the mayor’s request, the Seattle police were joined by members of the Washington National Guard and the U.S. military. More mass dissension and acts of civil disobedience, some vandalism, and curfew violations resulted in reprisals by the police forces and the eventual arrest of more than 500 people on December 1 alone. On December 2 and 3, thousands of demonstrators staged sit-ins outside the Seattle Police Department to protest what was seen by many as the department’s brutal tactics against peaceful protesters. Finally, December 3 ended with U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky and WTO Director-General Mike Moore announcing the suspension of the conference in response to both the street actions and disagreements between the various delegations.

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Seattle was left with millions of dollars in property damage and lawsuits by protesters arguing civil rights violations. While many of the affiliations formed by divergent political groups dissolved within the next few years, the Seattle WTO protests did jump-start a series of international antiglobalization protests and helped progressive movements realize the power of the Internet for mobilization and coalition building.