While Seattle protesters continue to control six blocks of an area known as Capitol Hill, controversy ensues over who ordered Seattle police officers to leave their precinct that is located within the occupied area.
The takeover was sparked over the death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old Minnesota black man who died while being arrested by police.
Floyd’s arrest was caught on video and went viral showing him pinned down by a white police officer’s knee to his neck.
Protesters renamed the area Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, or CHAZ for short.
Within this perimeter is the East Precinct police building, where police officers were ordered to clear out and the building shuttered.
Seattle Democrat Mayor Jenny Durkan and Police Chief Carmen Best both deny ordering the police to leave the precinct.
The Stranger.com reports:
Speaking of the East Precinct, neither Durkan nor Best would take responsibility for making the call for SPD to desert the East Precinct on Monday evening.
The question over who made the call was raised on social media.
Also it’s not like a light switch. Presumably it took several hours to leave, right? So what was going on then?
— David Kroman (@KromanDavid) June 11, 2020
Durkan also defended the protesters commandeering this area calling their actions “patriotism.”
The New York Post reports:
“It’s simply not true. Lawfully gathering and expressing first amendment rights, demanding we do better as a society, and providing true equity for communities of color is not terrorism. It’s patriotism.”
Last week, Durkan told CNN host Chris Cuomo the protests could end up being the “summer of love.”
President Trump criticized the mayor on social media.
Seattle Mayor says, about the anarchists takeover of her city, “it is a Summer of Love”. These Liberal Dems don’t have a clue. The terrorists burn and pillage our cities, and they think it is just wonderful, even the death. Must end this Seattle takeover now!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 12, 2020
At a press conference last week, Chief Best said the order for police to abandon the precinct “didn’t come from me.”
Fox News reports:
“We were asked to do an operational plan in case we needed to leave,” Best said. “The decision was made. We’re still evaluating about how that change came about but it didn’t come from me.”
Protesters are demanding Durkan and Best to resign.
Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan said she and SPD Chief Carmen Best will not resign. "The answer is no and no. We thought about a Thelma and Louise moment…" Durkan said. #seattleprotests #CHAZ
— Liz Jones (@KUOWLiz) June 11, 2020
Clearly, someone made the call for the Seattle police to abandon and shutter the East Precinct.
It’s alarming Seattle Mayor Durkan and Police Chief Best have not only lost control over the city but also don’t seem to care about who ordered the police to abandon their precinct.
If Durkan or Best did make the call, they are misleading the public for not taking responsibility.
In the end, Mayor Durkan must be held accountable for allowing the mob to take control over part of Seattle.