A group of businesses and residents in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle filed a federal lawsuit against the city for “Extensive damage” they have faced as the location of the Capitol Hill Busy Protest (CHOP).
Protesters have occupied the neighborhood for several weeks after city police left its eastern compound following clashes with protesters sparked by the George Floyd police murder in Minneapolis last month.
The class action lawsuit, which includes apartment buildings in the area, claims that the litigants support the Black Lives Matter movement, but accuses the city of assisting CHOP protesters. They claim that the autonomous zone has made it difficult for them to receive deliveries, city services and conduct business.
“This demand does not try to undermine the message of the CHOP participants or present a counter-message, “says the lawsuit. “Rather, this lawsuit is about the constitutional and legal rights of other Plaintiffs … that have been invaded by the unprecedented decision of the City of Seattle to abandon and close an entire neighborhood of the city, leaving it out of control by the police, without fire and emergency health services, and inaccessible to the general public. “
Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan (D) said on monday The city police department would return to the abandoned East Precinct after a weekend marked by three shootings in the Pacific zone.
He said protests would still be allowed, but authorities would try to cut down on nighttime activities by asking protesters to leave voluntarily instead of using force.
“It is time for people to go home, it is time for us to restore … Capitol Hill so that it can be a vibrant part of the community,” Durkan said, according to The Seattle Times. “The impacts on businesses and residents and the community are now too much.”
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