Seattle cops dismantle CHOP autonomous zone, arrest dozens after mayor issues emergency order
Heavily armed cops swept into Seattle’s police-free “autonomous zone” Wednesday and arrested dozens of people after Mayor Jenny Durkan issued an overnight emergency order declaring the weeks-long gathering an “unlawful assembly.”
The move to disband the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest, or CHOP, and reclaim an abandoned police precinct nearby follows a series of violent crimes that included the fatal shootings of two teenagers in recent days.
“The CHOP has become lawless and brutal,” Police Chief Carmen Best said in a statement Wednesday. “Four shootings — two fatal — robberies, assaults, violence and countless property crimes have occurred in this several block area.”
Officers moved into the zone around 5 a.m. and began tearing down tents and dispersing the crowd of several hundreds protesters. By late morning, more than 30 people had been arrested for failing to leave the area, though most protesters appeared to comply with dispersal orders, the Seattle Police Department said in a series of tweets.
CHOP organizer Derrek Jones II said officers swarmed the area and were “trampling everything I seen in sight, flipping tables.”
“People were trying to hold their ground but you could see the cops literally storm through people’s beds while they were sleeping. And literally say ‘If you don’t get out, we will force you out or arrest you,’” he told The Associated Press.
The cop-free zone, spanning several blocks in the city’s Capitol Hill neighborhood, had been filled with tents, couches and concrete barriers since June 8 — when protesters forced authorities to abandon a police precinct during local demonstrations against systemic racism and police brutality in the wake of George Floyd’s in-custody death in Minneapolis.
The unprecedented occupation was mostly peaceful during the day, but reports of violence began to grow in late June.
“As I have said, and I will say again, I support peaceful demonstrations,” Best wrote in her statement. “Black Lives Matter, and I too want to help propel this movement toward meaningful change in our community. But enough is enough.”
Besides the two murder victims, one of whom was a 16-year-old boy, police have investigated multiple reports of aggravated assault, burglaries and even rape within the area.
Durkan’s emergency order requires “all persons who are unlawfully occupying” the neighborhood to leave “immediately.” She also directed the city’s government agencies to make “all reasonable efforts” to assist those who need shelter, transportation or help packing or storing personal property, including tents.
The police department said the protective gear some cops were wearing on Wednesday was not meant to be a “preemptive show of force.”
“Police are utilizing this equipment because individuals associated with the CHOP area are known to be armed and dangerous, and who may be associated with active shootings, homicides, robberies, assaults, and other violent crimes,” the agency said in a statement.
During the operation, police said they observed several armed individuals circling the area in vehicles without visible license plates while others set off fireworks in the neighborhood.
The delay in clearing the protest zone angered local business owners, who are suing the city, and President Trump, who described the situation as out of control and repeatedly slammed the mayor and Gov. Jay Inslee for failing to act.
