Staff Report
Seattle Times
SEATTLE — Protesters declared a “Cop Free Zone” near where Seattle police boarded up and seemingly abandoned their East Precinct building Monday night, according to local reports -- following days of demonstrations in response to the police-involved death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
The surrounding area had seen more than a week of protests, with some of them growing violent.
On Monday, the Seattle Police Department sent a memo to officers noting that brass had decided to unblock the streets and allow demonstrators to march past the building on their way to Capitol Hill.
But with the building boarded up and police gone from the area, at least some demonstrators apparently decided to stay in place.
https://twitter.com/BrandiKruse/status/1270188402420314113
The first night without a police presence was “rainy and peaceful and full of speeches from activists, agitators, poets and socialist city council members,” according to Capitol Hill Seattle, a self-described community-based news blog.
That would be a stark contrast to events that unfolded over the weekend, when a man allegedly drove into a crowd of protesters Sunday night and shot someone just a block away from the building. The Seattle Fire Department tweeted that it took a 27-year-old man to the hospital from the scene with a gunshot wound.
Police repeatedly ordered demonstrators to disburse as the scene remained hectic Sunday night, according to the department’s Twitter feed.
https://twitter.com/SeattlePD/status/1269474731717087233
Protesters allegedly also threw glass bottles, rocks and “explosives” at police there on Saturday. Police said they used blast balls and pepper spray to try and break up the crowds.
During more than a week of protests, police used pepper spray, tear gas and flash bangs on protesters in the area, prompting thousands of complaints about the police response. City authorities banned police from using tear gas on protesters over the weekend.