Seattle protest zone spurs Trump to challenge officials
SEATTLE — After days of violent confrontations with protesters, police in this city have largely withdrawn from part of a neighborhood where protesters have created a festival-like scene that has President Donald Trump fuming.
Trump taunted Gov. Jay Inslee and Mayor Jenny Durkan about the situation on Twitter and said the city had been taken over by “anarchists.” “Take back your city NOW. If you don’t do it, I will,” Trump tweeted.
The president continued his complaints in a Thursday interview with the Fox News Channel. “If we have to go in, we’re going to go in,” Trump said. “These people are not going to occupy a major portion of a great city.”
The “Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone” stretches over a couple of city blocks and sprang up after police Monday removed barricades near the East Precinct and basically abandoned the structure after officers used tear gas, pepper spray and flash bangs over the weekend to disperse demonstrators they said were assaulting them with projectiles.
Inslee tweeted Thursday that state officials will not allow threats of military violence from the White House. “The U.S. military serves to protect Americans, not the fragility of an insecure president,” he tweeted.
The zone set up by protesters stretches across a portion of Capitol Hill, where dozens of people show up to listen to speakers calling for police reform, racial justice and compensation for Native American groups on whose land the city was founded.
Signs proclaim “You are entering free Capitol Hill” and “No cop co-op” along sidewalks where people sell water and other wares.
“The people that you see here have all come together because we see injustice in our system and we want to be part of the solution,“said Mark Henry Jr. of Black Lives Matter.
Henry said Trump’s rant about the gathering was unfounded. “Donald Trump can call us a terrorist if he likes to, but what you see out here is people coming together and loving each other,” he said.
Over the weekend, police were criticized by City
Council members and other elected leaders. Since officers dialed back their tactics, the demonstrations have largely been peaceful.
Police officials say they are looking to reopen the precinct. At a news conference Wednesday, Assistant Chief Deanna Nollette said the barriers were removed from the front of the building after it became a flash point between officers and protesters.
Nollette said the precinct has been boarded up because of credible threats that it would be vandalized or burned. She offered no details about the threats, and no fires have been reported at the site.
Police Chief Carmen Best posted a video message to officers Thursday in which she said the decision to leave the Capitol Hill precinct wasn’t hers and that she was angry about it. She also reiterated that police had been harassed and assaulted during protests.
“Ultimately, the city had other plans for the building and relented to severe public pressure,” Best said.
Protesters have said they want to see the precinct turned into a community center or used for purposes other than law enforcement.