Seattle police officers, under orders from Mayor Jenny Durkan, cleared demonstrators out of the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest Zone (CHOP) on Wednesday, just two days after one person was killed and a 14-year-old boy was injured in a shooting.
Police officers on bikes and on foot began dispersing the crowd at about 5 a.m. PT, authorities said.
Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best reiterated her support for the Black Lives Matter movement, which drove the protests, but said of this weeks-long occupation of public streets: “Enough is enough.”
Two young males, 19 and 16, have been killed in separate shootings within the protest zone since protests began.
“I support peaceful demonstrations. Black lives matter and I too want to help propel this movement forward toward meaningful exchange in our community and meaningful change in our community,” Best told reporters. “But enough is enough. Our job is to protect and to serve the community.”
A handful of protesters objected to the early morning police action, some even toppling portable toilets in hopes of forming a barrier against officers.
But by daylight, virtually the entire area was cleared. Officers were even going into bathrooms of Cal Anderson Park, looking for any stragglers.
At least 23 people were arrested in the first three hours of the police operation, authorities said.
Mayor Durkan defined the area as Broadway on the west, 13th Avenue East on the on the east, East Denny Way on the north and East Pike Street on the south. Durkan ordered the area to be clear for at least 48 hours.
And as Seattle police secured the area, paramedics rushed to the east side of Cal Anderson Park shortly after 6:30 a.m. to help a woman going into labor.
Protest organizer Andre Taylor said he was saddened by violence inside the protest zone, which prompted city and police action.
“It didn’t end how it started and that’s the tragedy of the situation,” Taylor told Seattle NBC affiliate KING.
Taylor said as soon as the first deadly shooting happened on June 20, protesters should have treated that as seriously any case of police brutality.
“The first time that there was violence, there there should have been an awakening,” said Taylor, who founded the group Not This Time, following the fatal police shooting of his brother.
“If they would have pivoted to those deaths as strongly as a George Floyd death, I think that Seattle would have continued to support this group.”
CHOP was formed in early June by demonstrators protesting police brutality and the killing of George Floyd.
Protesters established the zone after the Seattle Police Department vacated the East Precinct. The site, which was also known as CHAZ, changed the boarded-up police building’s sign to read “Seattle People Department.”
Durkan said in her order that the decision is meant to “restore public safety” to the area, which she said has faced a large uptick in violence since the zone was established.
Officers entered their police precinct on Tuesday morning for the first time since June 8.
“I don’t want to do to is to discourage young folks form having a voice, but try to learn from this experience and how to navigate a little better,” Taylor said of the protesters. “I thought they were extraordinarily brilliant.”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
