And residents are wondering why it took so long
Residents near Seattle’s CHOP ask what took city so long to move to break up protest
Residents who live near Seattle’s “police-free” zone called CHOP – “Capitol Hill Organized Protest” – expressed relief after Mayor Jenny Durkan announced Monday that city officials are working to end the protest, following two shootings over the weekend, one of them deadly.
But despite the mayor’s decision to act, some residents who live by the area were critical of the city’s leadership for taking so long to act.
“It was doomed to happen from Day One,†Matthew Ploszaj, who lives in the vicinity, told KOMO News. “No one wanted to say it, but I’m surprised it didn’t happen sooner. It should have ended when the Car Tender got broken and the mob went down and broke his fence. It did not have to come to this.â€
Durkan said the violence was distracting from changes sought by thousands of peaceful protesters opposing racial inequity and police brutality. She said at a news conference that the city is working with the community to bring CHOP to an end and that police soon would move back into a precinct building in the area they had largely abandoned.
The mayor did not give an immediate timeline for clearing out the occupation but said “additional steps†would be examined if people don’t leave voluntarily. With scores of people camping in a park in the protest zone, Durkan said peaceful demonstrations could continue, but nighttime disorder had to stop.
Distracting? The hell you say! But, one has to wonder how long it will take if they are “working with the community” rather than simply kicking them out. Why negotiate and play nice? They should have been stopped in the first place. These idiots gave up a police station, then the nutters were walking around with rifles.
Here’s a question for derelict Seattle government: who pays for the cleanup? Residents and business owners will be coming back to graffiti and property damage. How many residences and businesses have been ransacked and/or damaged? People’s property stolen? Every single person in that zone needs to be searched on the way out to see if they have property that is not theirs. Asking business owners and people who live in the area to simply file an insurance claim would be absurd and unfair.
You can bet there will be lots of photos of destruction and looting and property damage once these folks finally get out. How much will have disappeared from the police station that the Seattle PD abandoned like they were under assault in a 3rd world shithole? How much damage to government buildings, which the taxpayers will have to pay for?
There should be no negotiations. Send in the National Guard to surround the area. Start bringing the people out and arrest those who have violated the law. Ones who have guns with no permits, those who have stolen and destroyed. You know that won’t happen, though, unless there is a really big incident. It will probably take a month or more to wind this thing down.
