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.

Although the vast majority of the protests were peaceful in nature, some vandalism did occur during the protests. Anarchists defaced storefronts with spray paint and smashed windows, and stores were looted. Protesters were frustrated that the actions of relatively few people eclipsed their successful non-violent protests. Many of them came the next day to help clean up after the mayhem.

Here, a shopkeeper stands behind the metal security gate in front of his business while talking to a reporter.

Caption information source: "After violence comes the cleanup" by Ruth Schubert, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, December 2, 1999, p. A15.