Although media coverage of the protests at the World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle focuses on violence, the real news is that many of those involved are determined to avoid harm to all concerned. PNS commentator Gabriel Taylor reports from the barricades on a successful effort to keep the peace. Taylor is a recent graduate in political science from Evergreen College in Olympia Washington, and apprentice carpenter.

SEATTLE -- My mind and body are still ablaze from the events surrounding the opening of the World Trade Organization meeting.

About 100,000 people were there. Maybe 200 were violent and destructive, the rest were non-violent including about 20,000 involved in a highly organized and peaceful act of civil disobedience. That is where I was.

I met up with one of the several marches heading downtown around 7:00 a.m. A few hundred people banging on empty water jugs, hefting signs, banners, and puppets, and chanting protest were led by protest organizers through downtown Seattle toward the convention center. Our numbers swelled quickly as more protesters arrived and marches merged in intersections.

We passed barricades of busses and cement staggered in the streets and manned by cops wearing flak suits, riot helmets, and gasmasks. They carried long riot batons made from high impact plastic (I asked), tear gas canisters, fire extinguishers, .38 caliber weapons capable of shooting rubber bullets, chemicals, handguns, and plastic zip-ties.

At each barricade, a bunch of people left and started forming human barricades by linking their arms, so the numbers marching dwindled. I was among the first to arrive at the barricade in front of the Roosevelt Hotel where WTO delegates were staying, and one of the Convention Center entrances.

The cops were from the King County Sheriff's Department. and they were REALLY, REALLY nervous -- totally tense, standing with feet planted wide apart and riot batons across their torsos. They did not say a word -- just stopped anyone from getting past them. We argued a little, but a peaceful mood was set with the help of an energetic protester dressed as a gray squirrel super-hero. We told the cops that we loved them and that they were doing a good job.

The barricade began with one row of linked protesters but quickly grew to two rows -- those in front blocking the hotel and the street while the rear row formed a peace barricade that served as a buffer zone between protesters and the cops. I was on the peace barricade, two feet from the riot batons and tear gas canisters, with a piece of wet cloth imprinted with an anti-WTO slogan over my mouth and nose .

WTO delegates trying to get into the convention center or the hotel found themselves bouncing off our arms. Things started getting tense and loud as tens of thousands of people finished forming a human barricade totally surrounding the convention center. Bankers and industrialists were screaming and shoving, but we kept saying things like "take the day off, buddy, your meetings have been cancelled" or "There is NO way you're getting past me, give it up"

It was exhilarating. These people -- who are used to getting their way -- screamed louder and I smiled back, 100 percent certain that there was absolutely nothing they could do.

When the tear gas from around the corner drifted into our line, pain and fear crept into me. The guy on the loudspeaker told us the cops had tear-gassed a nearby barricade and were likely coming our way.

Our barricade did not let a single person by all day. I stood there from about 7:30 am to around 5:00 pm -- and we never got gassed or shot at because of our successful use of our position.

Calmly, I assured the cops that I wanted no one to get hurt and would not try to cross their line myself nor let anyone else cross. In return, they said they would not club or shoot. They were glad to have us acting as a buffer zone and increasing their visibility into the chaotic streets.

That didn't stop me from worrying as I heard their radios transmitting orders to get ready to gas us. I could hear the cops grumble in fear as they placed their gas masks on their faces and readied the canisters and the defensive line. But time and time again, they decided it wasn't necessary.

Reporters, delegates, families, Seattle citizens and protesters all had to stop at these barricades. Loud chanting amid the explosions urged people to join the lines, and they did. Fire-breathers and dancers paraded around, men on bicycles distributed buckets of soup. Legal observers were strategically placed with their "legal observer" T-shirts and notepads at every barricade.

Around 11:00 a.m., the AFL-CIO march went through. It took over an hour for the 60,000 union members to march by blasting music from radios, bagpipes and loudspeakers. The Teamsters drove a couple of big rigs through the heart of the march, blasting their air horns, bringing everyone's spirits up.

Our spirits were high. We were shutting the WTO down and we knew it. Despite the exhaustion and the burning of our eyes and lungs, we found this powerful feeling of unity and above all else strength in our solidarity on the barricades.

Michael Moore, the media activist, arrived at our barricade surrounded by hundreds of people and cameras. He wanted to talk to the cops behind us, but we refused to let him by. We did ask him to join our line and he stood there for awhile letting activists get some precious air time.

There was destruction and violence for sure. But beware of what you hear and see in the media. They are trying to turn this into another L.A. riot story when it was most certainly NOT.

I was there. Dead center. Front line. Eyes open.