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(WSB photo of police awaiting protesters under east end of West Seattle Bridge, May Day 2016)

Lots of alerts have been circulating for the past few days about how May Day protests and marches might affect downtown and the surrounding areas tomorrow.

Nothing is specifically planned in West Seattle – but last year, you might recall, we picked up coverage in the evening as one group of demonstrators got close to the east end of the bridge – police kept them from actually getting onto the bridge.

So we’ll be monitoring everything closely throughout the day..

TWO MARCHES WITH PERMITS: A small demonstration is planned to start around 8:45 am downtown, south from 2nd and University; a much-larger march is expected from Judkins Park to Seattle Center starting at 1 pm. More details on both are in this SDOT alert.

METRO’S PLAN: Read it here. Bottom line: “All bus service that travels near or through the downtown Seattle area might be subject to delays during and after Monday afternoon’s events. Bus riders are advised to plan ahead for longer trips, revise travel plans if necessary and allow plenty of travel time.”

THE WILD CARD(S): Demonstrations that haven’t applied for permits can’t be predicted. And last year can’t be used as much of a comparison since May Day was on a Sunday. But a websearch for May Day 2017 in Seattle brings up mentions of an 11 am “March on Amazon” from Westlake Park plus two 6 pm rally/marches – one from Judkins Park, one from/at Westlake Park. We’ll add anything more we find.