Free Republic

The destructive behavior characterizing Seattle’s “autonomous zone” – otherwise known as the CHOP and formerly known as the CHAZ – is surely viewed through different lenses by the people occupying and doing the damage and those that legally live in the area and have been inconvenienced and menaced over the last month. That distinction has been highlighted recently by lawsuits filed against city leaders who, residents say, have failed to protect the lives, liberty, and property of the people living near the CHAZ/CHOP. As a result of that, and the mendacity of Mayor Jenny Durkan, things seem to have turned...

SEATTLE — As the city tries to wind down the so-called Capitol Hill Occupied Protest zone, the city and Mayor Jenny Durkan were hit this week with a second lawsuit that seeks to hold her and other municipal leaders accountable for the situation that has unfolded inside the neighborhood. The nine-page lawsuit was filed Thursday by plaintiffs Jacob Bozeman, an attorney, and Austin Bozeman and names Durkan, Gov. Jay Inslee, the city of Seattle and Washington state as defendants who "did allow, aid, abet, and actively facilitate, the exclusive physical occupation, takeover and control of an approximate six city block...

Some Seattle police officers are concerned that disbanding the autonomous zone being occupied by protesters could turn violent. Since officers can't use pepper spray or tear gas to force people to disperse, some officers say their only course of action could be batons and firearms. Two weeks after protesters cordoned off and occupied parts of Capitol Hill, now named the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest (CHOP), Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan announced on Monday it would be disbanded. Officials didn't share a specific timeline for clearing the area and Durkan said the goal is to have people leave voluntarily. But a Seattle...

Faced with growing pressure to crack down on an “occupied” protest zone following two weekend shootings, Seattle’s mayor said Monday that officials will move to wind down the blocks-long span of city streets taken over two weeks ago that President Donald Trump asserted is run by “anarchists.”

PHOENIX — Coronavirus pandemic or not, an investment advisory company is leaving the cultural unrest in Seattle and moving its headquarters to Phoenix’s Camelback Corridor. ” … The unrest that has taken place in the city of Seattle … there is really is not a downtown business community today,” Smead Capital Management, President and CEO Cole Smead told KTAR News 92.3 FM. Smead said that although taxes in Seattle are lower, candidate recruitment is harder and the cost of living within the city is more expensive than Phoenix. “We’re hearing rumors of 40-story buildings that will be only 20-percent occupied...

Seattle protesters storm City Hall, demand mayor resign after driving police out of area, declaring autonomous zone Hundreds of protesters, aided by a sympathetic City Council member, stormed Seattle's City Hall Tuesday night to demand the mayor's resignation, just days after seizing a six-block downtown zone that includes a shuttered police precinct. SEATTLE PROTESTERS DECLARE 'COP FREE ZONE' AFTER POLICE LEAVE PRECINCT Demonstrators remained peaceful, without reports of violence or injuries, but are pushing Mayor Jenny Durkan to step down if she refuses to defund the city's police department. The protesters continued to camp out in a self-declared “Capitol Hill...