“Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone” (CHAZ) protesters in Seattle on Thursday forced out police officers from the area as they continued to occupy several blocks of the city including the police precinct building.
Two police officers entering the zone were immediately surrounded by CHAZ protesters who demanded they leave, according to video filmed by a Seattle Times reporter on Thursday.
It’s my first day in CHAZ. Arrived just as the group was trying to get rid of a couple police and shouting to check all the barricades pic.twitter.com/Gew1kaOjza
— Heidi Groover (@heidigroover) June 11, 2020
Chants of “Our Streets” and “Our Streets, Bitch” were shouted as the police abandoned their attempts to enter the CHAZ area.
One protester tried to argue that the police officers should be allowed in.
“This is not necessary, so let them in, it’s a precinct, we need police,” he said.
But the protesters immediately booed the proposal.
“We have no police … they’re shit!” one protester yelled.
Other videos of police officers trying to return to the East Precinct within the CHAZ zone were immediately surrounded.
Chants of “Go Home!” and “Find Another Building” and “Our Streets” were shouted, as barricades were thrown up by protesters to keep them out.
“I heard people yelling, and saw some shoving, but it was hard to see exactly what was happening,” said Zachary Coon, who shot this video of a clash between Seattle police & demonstrators now occupying #chazseattle. “A couple of people claimed later they were pepper-sprayed.” pic.twitter.com/HOmbZb4JyY
— Lewis Kamb (@lewiskamb) June 12, 2020
