Unknown to the demonstrators, these Seattle Police Officers were just down the street and around the corner on Third and Pike. These Police Officers had moved one block outside the no protest zone and were around the corner from the demonstrators. In this position it would have been impossible for the police officers to issue a dispersal order because the demonstrators couldn't have heard them. Also, since no violence had taken place, the Ninth Circuit's ruling in the Collins case meant that any dispersal order would have been illegal and unenforcible.
Interestingly, the Collins ruling also stated that the police could not issue a dispersal order on the grounds that a permit had not been issued. The court noted that oftentimes, when a demonstration is reacting to something that the government had done, as here, there is not enough time to get a permit, so a dispersal order is not a valid tool for the police to use.
If you look closely, the first shot has just been fired in this photograph. There is a puff of smoke in the left center of the photograph where the police are located. Notice further, the demonstrators had yet to come to the intersection and there is no one in the intersection, so there does not appear to be any threat to the police whatsoever.
