Seattle police forcibly cleared “CHOP,” the infamous protest area in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, after weeks of protests that culminated in two fatal shootings that forced city Democratic leaders to finally act afterward. of facing weeks of increasing scrutiny.
The long-term political consequences of allowing CHOP (Capitol Hill Occupied Protest) had yet to be seen. But critics said it was remarkable that a large United States city allowed protesters to occupy six city blocks, close a police compound, and reportedly would not allow the first responders to enter. (The city insisted that the area was never really “free of police” as the organizers of the protest claimed).
‘HANNITY’: FATHER OF CHOP SHOOTING VICTIM, HORACE LORENZO ANDERSON, SEEKS ANSWERS FROM THE CITY
Shortly after police cleared the area, Faizel Khan, a business owner there, told Seattle’s KING-TV that he did not believe there were winners in the city.
“I think we have actually lost,” he said. “I think we have lost a mayor. We lost a city councilman. We have lost residents. We lost small businesses. We have lost the Black Lives Matter movement. “
Mayor Jenny Durkan, a Democrat, has been assaulted by protesters and Republicans for her handling of the crisis. Critics on the right described her as an out-of-touch leader and pointed to an interview on CNN when asked from the outset how long she had planned to make the area “police free.” She replied, “I don’t know, we could have a summer of love.”
PACIFIC AREA MEDIA NARRATIVE BELOW
President Trump, who has branded himself the “law and order” option in 2020, reacted to Durkan in amazement.
“These liberal Democrats have no idea,” said Trump. “Terrorists burn and loot our cities, and they think it’s wonderful, even death. This Seattle takeover must end now!”
The president’s criticism was not limited to Durkan. He also faced Washington State Governor Jay Inslee, another Democrat, who questioned Trump’s threat to use force in the city and said he would not allow “threats of military violence against Washingtonians from the White House.”
Inslee initially said Durkan and his team briefed him on the situation and said the area was “largely peaceful.” The peaceful protests are fundamentally American, and I hope there will be a peaceful resolution. “
Major cities across the United States have seen an eruption of riots and protests over George Floyd’s death on May 25 in Minneapolis police custody. Trump’s first attack on city leadership targeted Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey over his decision to evacuate a police compound in his city in May.
“The symbolism of the building cannot exceed the importance of life, our officers or the public,” he said. “We could not risk serious injury to anyone. And we will continue to patrol the Third Precinct. “
Protests over police brutality evolved into a broader movement calling on cities to make the necessary changes to help minority communities and end police brutality, even if it requires spending the police to free budget.
Los Angeles city leaders voted Wednesday to cut the Los Angeles Police Department’s budget by $ 150 million, which would reduce the number of officers to a level not seen in more than a decade. On Tuesday night, the New York City Council voted to cut the New York Police budget in 2021 by $ 1 billion.
Durkan tweeted earlier this week that he planned to meet with Chief of Police Carmen Best for an “in-depth review of the SPD budget” and assess “what functions could be moved to other departments or eliminated entirely.”
On Monday, a 16-year-old boy was killed and another teenager was in critical condition, in an incident that marked the fourth shooting in the CHOP area.
The first death there occurred on June 20 when Horace Lorenzo Anderson, 19, was shot dead. His father, Horace Lorenzo Anderson Sr., told Fox News “Hannity” that the police and Durkan had been unable to contact him since their son’s death.
“They need to come talk to me and someone has to come tell me something, because I still don’t know anything,” Anderson told host Sean Hannity. “Someone has to come to my house and knock on my door and tell me something. I don’t know anything. All I know is that my son was killed there.”
Durkan insisted in a tweet on Wednesday that “For weeks, we have had incredibly peaceful protests on Capitol Hill.”
Previously, he said his decision to close CHOP was made for public safety despite the city’s best efforts to reduce the situation and unite the community.
Durkan later urged the City Council to investigate Councilman Kshama Sawant, a socialist, whom the Mayor accused of allowing hundreds of protesters to enter the City Council while it was closed; driving protesters home despite threats from the time he was a United States attorney; and encouraging protesters to occupy the East Precinct, according to Seattle’s Q13 Fox.
“We have all joined hundreds of demonstrations across the city, but Councilwoman Sawant and her supporters decided to do so regardless of the safety of my family and children. Also, during or after Councilor Sawant’s speech at that rally, his followers destroyed my house puncturing obscenities, “Durkan wrote in a letter addressed to the president of the Council, Lorena González.
Patch reported Wednesday night that the City Council rejected the request.
“Public disclosure of the problems among independently elected officials will not advance solutions to the deepening needs of our constituents,” Gonzalez wrote.
Sawant and Durkan’s public dispute illustrated how divided members of the same political parties have been on how to solve the problem. Trump has been criticized by some on the right for failing to take bold enough action with protesters.
Best, the police chief, reportedly disagreed with Durkan over the city’s management of the protest area. The chief accused the mayor of shirking her responsibilities as an elected official and allowing protesters to expel police officers from a compound.
On Wednesday, Best said she was “stunned by the amount of graffiti, trash, and property destruction” she saw on a tour of the area.
United States Attorney General William Barr praised Best for what he called “his courage and leadership in restoring the rule of law in Seattle.”
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“Chief Best has correctly pledged to continue the substantive discussion as the violence ends, which threatens innocent people and undermines the principles of the rule of law that protesters profess to uphold,” Barr said in a statement.
Vandana Rambaran, Yael Halon, Danielle Wallace, and The Fox News Associated Press contributed to this report.
