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 Washington State Police and National Guard members stand outside the stores facing the Nordstrom department store, on Pine Street near the intersection with 5th Avenue. Guard members are equipped with bundles of zip ties for making arrests. Nearby, outside one of the stores, is a contemporary street clock in the shape of a question mark.

This photo was taken by Ervin Schleufer, a member of the Coeur d’Alene Tribe and retired member of the United Steelworkers of America Local 338. Schleufer was among the striking steelworkers locked out by the Kaiser Corporation in Spokane from 1998 to 2000. In 1999 he traveled the West Coast, with a group calling themselves “road warriors,” to connect with activists, get support for their strike, and raise interest in protesting the WTO conference in Seattle. Schleufer joined thousands of union members from across the country protesting at the WTO conference, and took photos documenting his participation in the street protests.