The Third Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) was held in Seattle from November 30 to December 3, 1999. Trade ministers and other officials from the WTO's 135 member nations met in an unsuccessful attempt to plan negotiations to further deregulate free trade. Tens of thousands of activists for many causes gathered to protest what they saw as the WTO's favoring of corporate interests over social and environmental concerns.

Members of the press from around the world came to Seattle to cover the WTO conference and related protests. Here, the press gathers around a Seattle Police Department spokesperson at Pike Street and Seventh Avenue, after hours of waiting to get into the Washington State Convention Center to cover the conference.

Caption information source: "20 years later: Looking back at the Battle in Seattle, the WTO riots" by Zosha Millman, Seattle Post-Intelligencer website, retrieved at https://www.seattlepi.com/local/seattle-history/article/WTO-Riots-Battle-Seattle-1999-anniversary-13431709.php. Retrieved March 30, 2024.