Seattle Mayor Says “Occupied” Protest Zone to Be Dismantled

By Staff, Agencies

The so-called Capitol Hill Occupied Protest Zone [CHOP], a six-block area in Seattle overrun by George Floyd protesters, will be dismantled, city mayor Jenny Durkan said Tuesday.

In a press conference, as cited by the Associated Press, she said that the recent violence that rocked the area also known as the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone was undermining the message of the peaceful protesters against police brutality.

She added that the city was working with the CHOP community to reinstate the police presence in the area after the law enforcement withdrew from the local station on June 8.

Over the weekend, the CHOP area, blocked off by barricades with checkpoints manned by armed protesters, saw two separate shootings, with at least one person killed and two more wounded.

According to the Seattle police, the officers and rescue workers who arrived on the scene had to face off with a "hostile crowd," which prevented them from assisting the victims in a timely manner.

Seattle police chief Carmen Best also said other cries have been reported in the area, including rape, assaults, burglary and destruction of property.

The CHOP area has been highly controversial, with US President Donald Trump saying Seattle had been taken over by the "radical left" and lambasting the mayor over a lack of action.

Some of the media accounts of CHOP, including that of the New York Times, painted the area, which stretches over a hip, progressive-leaning neighborhood, as an essentially peaceful and vibrant art space.

Other accounts, however, included one by the New York Post, offered a more grim depiction, with gunshots reported at night and soaring drug abuse.