So...another chapter yet....will the cops finally break some heads or will cooler heads prevail? Will the community support the police..or the occupiers?
Several hundred demonstrators are staying in an autonomous area claimed by protesters for racial justice in Seattle, even as its size is shrinking and pressure to shut it down completely is increasing from local businesses and residents, as well as city officials.
The Capitol Hill Occupied Protest zone, or CHOP, began on June 8 after thousands of protesters moved into a six-block area in the artsy neighborhood. Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan ordered police to abandon the local East Precinct police station to help end violent confrontations there following the killing of the African-American George Floyd by a white Minneapolis policeman on May 25.
The CHOP was initially akin to a community festival focused on antiracism and police reform, with few problems or complaints from local residents. But last weekend there were three shootings in the area, one of which left a man dead, according to Ms. Durkan.
Police attempting to respond to the fatal incident in the predawn hours Saturday were blocked by a crowd telling them to leave, according to body camera footage released by the department. The 19-year-old victim, shot by an unknown assailant inside the occupied zone, was taken by private citizens to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.
“It’s time for people to go home,” Ms. Durkan said in a press conference Monday. “We can still accommodate people who want to protest peacefully, come there and gather. But the impacts on the businesses and residents and community are now too much.”
On Friday morning, city crews arrived to remove some road barriers in the occupation zone and begin cleaning up a city park there, but were met with “significant resistance by protesters, who grew increasingly agitated and aggressive,” a spokesman for the mayor said. The crews later retreated.
Many people who lived in the CHOP have left, but an estimated few hundred protesters remain encamped in an area that has been shrunk down to three blocks following a city request. On Wednesday night, some were barbecuing on the street behind signs that said they wouldn’t leave until three demands are met: a defunding of the Seattle police, more investment in community programs for black residents and the release of all prisoners jailed in the recent Black Lives Matter protests.
Several hundred demonstrators are staying in an autonomous area claimed by protesters for racial justice in Seattle, even as its size is shrinking and pressure to shut it down completely is increasing from local businesses and residents, as well as city officials.
The Capitol Hill Occupied Protest zone, or CHOP, began on June 8 after thousands of protesters moved into a six-block area in the artsy neighborhood. Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan ordered police to abandon the local East Precinct police station to help end violent confrontations there following the killing of the African-American George Floyd by a white Minneapolis policeman on May 25.
The CHOP was initially akin to a community festival focused on antiracism and police reform, with few problems or complaints from local residents. But last weekend there were three shootings in the area, one of which left a man dead, according to Ms. Durkan.
Police attempting to respond to the fatal incident in the predawn hours Saturday were blocked by a crowd telling them to leave, according to body camera footage released by the department. The 19-year-old victim, shot by an unknown assailant inside the occupied zone, was taken by private citizens to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.
“It’s time for people to go home,” Ms. Durkan said in a press conference Monday. “We can still accommodate people who want to protest peacefully, come there and gather. But the impacts on the businesses and residents and community are now too much.”
On Friday morning, city crews arrived to remove some road barriers in the occupation zone and begin cleaning up a city park there, but were met with “significant resistance by protesters, who grew increasingly agitated and aggressive,” a spokesman for the mayor said. The crews later retreated.
Many people who lived in the CHOP have left, but an estimated few hundred protesters remain encamped in an area that has been shrunk down to three blocks following a city request. On Wednesday night, some were barbecuing on the street behind signs that said they wouldn’t leave until three demands are met: a defunding of the Seattle police, more investment in community programs for black residents and the release of all prisoners jailed in the recent Black Lives Matter protests.
