- Title: Seattle police clear protest zone after flares of violence
- Date: 2nd July 2020
- Summary: SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, UNITED STATES (JULY 01, 2020) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF POLICE STANDING IN A LINE AT "AUTONOMOUS ZONE" VEHICLE MOVING CEMENT BARRICADE VARIOUS OF CREWS DISASSEMBLING PARTS OF "AUTONOMOUS ZONE" PROTESTERS PROTESTERS CONFRONTING POLICE IN LINE VARIOUS OF POLICE PROTESTER ADDRESSING CROWD POLICE OFFICER TELLING PROTESTER WHY SHE IS UNDER ARREST VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS NEAR POLICE LINE POLICE VEHICLE PARKED IN FORMER "AUTONOMOUS ZONE"
- Embargoed: 16th July 2020 04:44
- Keywords: CHOP George Floyd Seattle Washington autonomous zone police protest
- Location: SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, UNITED STATES
- City: SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, UNITED STATES
- Country: USA
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Civil Unrest
- Reuters ID: LVA001CL49IYV
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Seattle authorities moved on Wednesday (July 01) to dismantle a protest zone that the city's police chief derided as "lawless and brutal" and which had prompted U.S. President Donald Trump to call for action against demonstrators.
Officers, clad in helmets and extra protective gear, entered the "autonomous zone" early and by mid-morning had arrested 31 people for failure to disperse, assault and other alleged crimes, according to the police department's Twitter feed.
Police moved to retake the zone after Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan declared the gathering around the police department's East Precinct and Cal Anderson Park an "unlawful assembly," the police chief, Carmen Best, said in a statement that highlighted a recent spate of shootings and the deaths of two teenagers.
The zone had become less crowded and active over the past several days. Crowds that came by the thousands to listen to speeches about police brutality and marvel at street art commemorating Black lives had disappeared, as had medic stations and multiple free food tents.
Police were walking in and out of the East Precinct on Wednesday, re-establishing control. Weeks earlier, they abandoned the building following clashes with protesters in the wake of the May 25 killing in Minneapolis of George Floyd, a Black man, at the hands of that city's police.
Floyd's death triggered a nationwide wave of largely peaceful demonstrations against racial injustice and police brutality, giving rise in Seattle to the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest (CHOP) zone east of downtown.
(Production: Lindsey Wasson, Bob Mezan) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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