Media Response
The New York Times printed an erroneous article that stated that protesters at the 1999 WTO convention in Seattle threw Molotov cocktails at police. Two days later, The New York Times printed a correction saying that the protest was mostly peaceful and no protesters were accused of throwing objects at delegates or the police, but the original error persisted in later accounts in the mainstream media.
The Seattle City Council also dispelled these rumors with its own investigation findings:
"The level of panic among police is evident from radio communication and from their inflated crowd estimates, which exceed the numbers shown on news videotapes. ARC investigators found the rumors of "Molotov cocktails" and sale of flammables from a supermarket had no basis in fact. But, rumors were important in contributing to the police sense of being besieged and in considerable danger."
An article in the magazine The Nation disputed that Molotov cocktails have ever been thrown at an anti-globalization protest within the US.
Read more about this topic: 1999 Seattle WTO Protests
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