Washington Three Percent, a right-wing group that advocates for gun rights, held a political rally outside of Seattle City Hall Sunday. Antifascist protesters assembled across the street and clashed with Seattle Police in a brief skirmish resulting in four arrests.

The “United Against Hate” rally was scheduled for noon at Seattle City Hall plaza, but protesters and hundreds of Seattle police were already set up on every corner surrounding the building before 11 a.m. Metal barricades corralled the black-clad antifascist protesters, who chanted and blew horns throughout the rally. Police, carrying wooden batons, blocked off Fourth Avenue to traffic. The rally drew a couple dozen members of the Washington Three Percent group, which holds demonstrations advocating for broader Second Amendment rights. Leader Matt Marshall called for the removal of state Attorney General Bob Ferguson for his support of Initiative 1639. I-1639, approved by voters in 2018, tightened gun laws in the state, including raising the minimum age to buy a semiautomatic rifle from age 18 to 21.

Credit: KUOW Photo/Megan Farmer

While the rally did not focus on I-1639 or gun rights, multiple speakers brought the issue up. One member finished his speech by offering gun training courses and telling the crowd to be “deadlier and harder to kill” in 2020.