This is what Seattle’s Capitol Hill Organized Protest zone looks like after police officers stormed in on Wednesday to clear protesters out.
Photos showing the aftermath of the eviction showed city crews using heavy equipment to remove concrete barriers and cart away debris, including plywood signs that read “BLM” and “Still our streets.”
“I was just stunned by the amount of graffiti, garbage and property destruction,” Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best said after she walked around the area.
Sanitation workers were spotted scrubbing the pavements in the former protest zone and cleaning graffiti.
Police also strung yellow caution tape from tree to tree warning people not to reenter.
Earlier on Wednesday, Mayor Jenny Durkan authorized police to remove protesters who are “unlawfully occupying Cal Anderson Park area” — dubbed the Capitol Hill Organized Protest zone, or CHOP.
More than three dozen people were arrested during the early-morning ouster, charged with failure to disperse, obstruction, assault and unlawful weapon possession.
Durkan said that while she supported cops in making arrests Wednesday, she didn’t think many of those arrested for misdemeanors should be prosecuted.
The dismantling of the CHOP came after two teens were shot and killed in the zone that spans multiple blocks in the city’s Capitol Hill neighborhood.
With Post wires
