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SEATTLE — For weeks, officials in Seattle have been grappling with how to show support for peaceful protests against police violence while maintaining order. After days of clashes with demonstrators outside a police station on Capitol Hill, the police had relinquished the building, leaving the protesters to establish their own autonomous zone in the middle of the city.
SEATTLE — Police officers moved in and cleared an area near downtown Seattle early Wednesday where demonstrators had surrounded a police station and established a “no cop” zone amid national protests over police brutality.
But the emergent experiment in police-free living turned into an area of increasing lawlessness, with two people killed in four shootings, and a liberal city government that had been inclined to let the protesters have their say increasingly found itself facing pressure to clear them away.
City officials cited a series of violent episodes in their decision to vacate the region, including the deaths of two teenagers amid at least four shootings in a matter of 10 days last month.
Early Wednesday morning, after weeks of hesitation, police officers in riot gear swiftly moved in to drive the protesters off the streets and bulldoze their barricades, ending one of the most visible protests that broke out across the country in response to the death of George Floyd in the custody of the Minneapolis police more than a month ago.
“Black Lives Matter, and I too want to help propel this movement toward meaningful change in our community,” Chief Carmen Best of the Seattle Police Department said in statement. “But enough is enough.”
“Our job is to protect and to serve the community,” Carmen Best, the city’s police chief, said as police officers re-entered the East Precinct police station and took 31 people into custody “Our job is to support peaceful demonstrations.”
The order to vacate the area came amid growing tensions over how to handle an area that was cordoned off as a symbolic statement by protesters after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The continuing problems had drawn the attention of President Trump, who blasted Democratic officials in Seattle and Washington State for failing to clear the area earlier.
“What has happened here on these streets over the last two weeks — few weeks, that is — is lawless, and it’s brutal, and bottom line, it is simply unacceptable,” she said.
At a news conference on Wednesday, Mayor Jenny Durkan said she was urging the police to avoid criminal charges against anyone arrested in the zone for failure to disperse or other misdemeanors.
But she said the city had been forced to act because of the repeated episodes of violence.
Seattle’s largely progressive leadership had sought mightily to find common ground with the protesters, in part because of the city’s own recent history. The city committed to sweeping police reforms after the Department of Justice accused it of biased policing and excessive force in 2012. Ms. Best, its first Black female police chief, was appointed in 2018.
But the encampment known as the Capitol Hill Organized Protest began drawing homeless people from elsewhere in the city who showed no inclination to leave anytime soon, and the happy communal vibe during the day was often turning darker at night.
The outbreak of violence over the past week left many in the neighborhood — an area of artists and students and also some of the city’s grandest old homes — demanding an end to the chaos.
“The deteriorating conditions and repeated gun violence required us to immediately address public safety concerns,” Mayor Durkan said. “It was clear that many individuals would not leave, and that the impacts to the community could not be reduced, and public safety could not be improved, until they did leave.”
Chief Best said it even more succinctly earlier in the day: “Enough is enough.”
The move to clear the area came as protests against police brutality around the country have begun to wane. Many cities, including Seattle, have committed to new police reforms after Mr. Floyd’s death, and some of the officers involved in the most recent shooting deaths of Black people, including Mr. Floyd, have been fired and charged with crimes.
There are continuing moves to redefine the mission of police departments around the country, and to arrest other officers involved in deadly shootings of Black people, including Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency medical technician who was shot by Louisville, Ky., police officers at her home.
But millions of Americans are out of work because of the coronavirus, and some of those whose grievances go well beyond the latest cases of police violence have remained in the streets to demand further change. Perhaps taking a cue from Seattle, demonstrators in Portland, Philadelphia, Richmond, Va., and elsewhere have tried to set up protest sites of their own.
In New York, what started as a small group of protesters and a few square feet morphed into a group that took over the large part of a park, and attracted extensive attention on social media. Police officers tried to clear the area on Wednesday morning, removing barricades and making several arrests.
The Seattle protest zone included tents, a “Decolonization Conversation Cafe” and even a medic station over six blocks, establishing what protesters called a “no-cop” zone after the police agreed to board up their precinct station and withdraw outside the barricades. Part street fair, part commune, the so-called CHOP became an experiment in maintaining order with no police in sight.
But leadership in the zone was unclear, and community organizers said it was hard to figure out who was in charge. Some activists called for a few specific demands including defunding the police department, while others focused on broader issues such as economic inequality.
“There was no leadership because there were different factions,” said Andre Taylor, a local community organizer who had struggled to broker a meeting between representatives in the zone and the mayor. “When you’re dealing with a very volatile situation and there’s no cohesive voice, it’s really hard to deal with.”
Some residents and local business owners had initially been supportive of the enclave. Matt Mitgang, who lives across from the abandoned police station, said he had joined protests after Mr. Floyd’s death, and had been tear-gassed in his apartment when the police initially clashed with protesters.
“None of us were happy with the police department,” Mr. Mitgang said. “I think we were all looking at the evolving situation on our street with cautious optimism.”
But the recent violence worried him.
“We had kind of reached the point as residents where it felt like the message was getting lost,” he said.
A few days ago, Mr. Mitgang and his neighbors called the fire department to assist a man who appeared to be in medical distress, he said. No one came.
“Their station is less than a block away, but they never came,” he said, “and I think at that point a lot of us got truly shaken. Seeing that they wouldn’t even come in half a block I think made a lot of us really worried about what would happen if something else were to occur.”
A 19-year-old man died and a 33-year-old man was injured in the first shooting that took place at CHOP on June 20. A 17-year-old man was injured in a second shooting the following day. And on Monday, the police said they were investigating a third shooting that had left a 16-year-old dead and a 14-year-old seriously injured.
The tension over how to handle the zone had drawn national scrutiny, including from President Trump, who blasted Democratic officials in Seattle and Washington State for failing to clear the area earlier.
“If they don’t do the job, I’ll do the job,” the president said last month.
“If they don’t do the job, I’ll do the job,” the president said last month.
Seattle officials had initially announced their intention to shut down the protest zone over the weekend, but it was not until Wednesday morning that a crowd of police officers pushed through the area just after 5 a.m., some wearing helmets and carrying batons. Officials said the equipment was “not meant to be a pre-emptive show of force” but was necessary because people gathered in the area were known to be armed.
A crowd of police officers pushed through the area just after 5 a.m. Wednesday, some wearing helmets and carrying batons. Officials said the equipment was “not meant to be a pre-emptive show of force” but was necessary because people gathered in the area were known to be armed.
“I woke up to everybody screaming and running, saying, ‘The cops, the cops, they’re here,’” said Derrek Allen Jones II, who said he had been staying at the zone for several weeks.
“I woke up to everybody screaming and running saying, ‘The cops, the cops, they’re here,’” said Derrek Allen Jones II, who said he had been staying at the zone for several weeks.
Officers lined up on the edge of the area as a helicopter whirred overhead. Protesters milled around the intersection, some shouting at the police. A couple of officers engaged in dialogue directly with protesters as others led a man away in handcuffs. One man said he had been hit with pepper spray as officers pushed protesters back to 12th and Pike Street. A woman raised her fist in the air and chanted, “These are our streets.”
Officers lined up on the edge of the area as a helicopter whirred overhead. Protesters milled around the intersection, some shouting at the police. A couple of officers engaged in dialogue directly with protesters as others led a man away in handcuffs. One man said he had been hit with pepper spray as officers pushed protesters back to 12th and Pike Street. A woman raised her fist in the air and chanted, “These are our streets.”
Thirty-one people were arrested on charges of failure to disperse, obstruction, resisting arrest and assault, the police department said on Twitter, including a 29-year-old man who had a large metal pipe and a kitchen knife.
Twenty-three people were arrested on charges of failure to disperse, obstruction, resisting arrest and assault, the police department said on Twitter, including a 29-year-old man who had a large metal pipe and a kitchen knife.
In remarks to reporters just after 7 a.m., Chief Best said she supported peaceful demonstrations, but said the recent violence in the autonomous zone could not be tolerated.
“Our job is to protect and to serve the community. Our job is to support peaceful demonstrations,” she said. “But what has happened here on these streets over the last two weeks — few weeks, that is — is lawless, and it’s brutal, and bottom line, it is simply unacceptable.”
The city had previously made the unusual decision to abandon a police station in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, board up its windows and let protesters have free rein outside in the wake of demonstrations nationwide over Mr. Floyd’s death in police custody.
Protesters laid claim to several city blocks and put up a banner on the front entrance of the emptied police station reading, “This space is now property of the Seattle people.”
After the police cleared the area on Wednesday morning, officers checked the East Precinct station for “obstacles and other concerns,” Chief Best said, but were not yet operating out of the building.
City workers in yellow and orange vests began removing spray-painted barricades and artwork. Signs reading, “All lives don’t matter until Black lives matter” and “R.I.P. E. Precinct” remained in front of empty tents that lined 12th Avenue.
Protesters had been issued warnings to disperse when the police arrived, according to Detective Mark Jamieson.
Protesters had been issued warnings to disperse when the police arrived, according to Detective Mark Jamieson.
“There were people that wanted to be arrested,” he said. “We gave multiple orders to disperse and then either people leave or they don’t.”
"There were people that wanted to be arrested,” he said. “We gave multiple orders to disperse and then either people leave or they don’t.”
The police also cleared protesters from nearby Cal Anderson Park, he said.
The police also cleared protesters from nearby Cal Anderson Park, he said.
After the arrests, traffic began moving through the streets once again, and city workers in yellow and orange vests hauled out spray-painted barricades and artwork. Left behind were some tents, and a few signs: “R.I.P.E. Precinct,” one of them read. “All lives don’t matter until Black lives matter,” said another.
City officials had insisted that the police would not allow any area of the city to fall into lawlessness.
Sarah Mervosh contributed reporting from Canton, Ohio.
“There is no cop-free zone in the city of Seattle,” Chief Best said earlier this month. “I think that the picture has been painted in many areas that shows the city is under siege. That is not the case.”
Rachel Abrams reported from Seattle, and Sarah Mervosh from Canton, Ohio.
