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.

Here, a group of protesters heads north on 6th Avenue near Madison Street to join the protests downtown. A large banner at the front reads "Make Trade Clean, Green, and Fair." Other signs have the messages "Stop Exploiting Workers" and "WTO: Fix It or Nix It."