SEATTLE — Police officers moved into 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.
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.
“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.”
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.
“If they don’t do the job, I’ll do the job,” the president said last month.
A crowd of police officers pushed through the area in the early dawn hours on Wednesday morning, 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.
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. One man said he had been hit with pepper spray as officers pushed protesters back to 12th and Pike Street.
A total of 13 people were arrested, the police said.
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.”
City officials had insisted that the police would not allow any area of the city to fall into lawlessness.
“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.
