Two black female members of Seattle’s African American Community Advisory Council were booed on Thursday as they told protesters inside the city’s ‘autonomous zone’ that they have had hijacked the Black Lives Matter movement.
Protesters descended on the six-block zone in Seattle earlier this week to declare it an autonomous zone. They took over the police precinct, sending the few cops who remained there fleeing.
Photos of armed guards and checkpoints startled outsiders and drove President Trump to declare the area full of ‘domestic terrorists’ and ‘ugly anarchists’.
But over the last few days, people inside the zone have likened it more to a peaceful street party where the protesters dine on vegan pizza, watch civil rights documentaries and listen to seminars and musical performances.
A member of the African American Community Advisory Council was booed telling the crowd of protesters they had to negotiate with the police to find a peaceful resolution inside Seattle’s free zone on Thursday
Among the many stands that have popped up is one that is collecting signatures on three petitions.
One is to defund the Seattle Police Department but the other two are to slap Amazon with more taxes and to call on Mayor Jenny Durkan – who supports the free zone – to resign.
Now, some say the original message of outrage over the brutal police killing of George Floyd, has been lost.
On Thursday, members of the African American Community Advisory Council – which is part of the police department – went to the zone to plead with protesters to speak to them and come to a peaceful resolution.
‘The thing is, you have hijacked this!
‘You have taken the meaning away!’ Victoria Beach, who is part of the council, fumed at the crowd.
Victoria Beach, the council president, told the protesters the message had been ‘hijacked’
She and another black woman who told protesters they needed to talk with the police department were booed.
Later, Beach told Komo News: ‘How are we going to be heard if that’s happening?
‘How are we going to come to the table and talk?’
The zone is being referred to as #CHAZ – the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone.
On Thursday, a handful of cops returned to their now defaced precinct to try to police it but the crowds set up barricades to keep them out.
Mayor Jenny Durkan has stood by the protesters, despite ongoing criticism from President Trump.
She said in an interview on Thursday that it could bring about a ‘summer of love’ that would bring people together.
Trump tweeted on Friday: ‘Seattle Mayor says, about the anarchists takeover of her city, “it is a Summer of Love”.
Inside the autonomous zone, there are three petitions including one for raising Amazon’s tax bill and one calling for Mayor Jenny Durkan to resign
The ‘no cop coop’ in the free zone where people are encouraged to take free goods
Armed men are seen manning checkpoints controlling entry to the CHAZ. Police say they have received complaints that protesters are demanding cash to enter the zone, and shaking down businesses inside for ‘protection money’
‘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!’
Trump has said that his administration is ‘not going to let Seattle be occupied by anarchists’ after demonstrators took over a six-block section of the city, including a police precinct.
‘If there were more toughness, you wouldn’t have the kind of devastation that you had in Minneapolis and in Seattle.
‘I mean, let’s see what’s going on in Seattle,’ Trump told Fox News on Thursday.
‘I will tell you, if they don’t straighten that situation out, we’re going to straighten it out.’
A sign is seen on a barrier at an entrance to the so-called “Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone” on June 10, 2020 in Seattle, Washington
Artists have spray painted rainbow murals throughout the streets of the six-block zone
The protesters have also planted flowers and plants in the grassy areas within the zone
On Wednesday night, the protesters took a vote and watched Paris is Burning – the 1990s iconic LGBTQ movie. They watched an anti-slavery documentary the previous night
Trump described Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan’s handling of the situation as ‘pathetic,’ and asked ‘Has she ever done this before?’ He also called on Washington Governor Jay Inslee to send in National Guard troops to restore order.
‘He’s got great National Guard troops so he can do it,’ Trump said of Inslee. ‘But one way or the other, it’s going to get done.
‘These people are not going to occupy a major portion of a great city.
‘It is unconstitutional and illegal to send the military into Seattle,’ Durkan, a first-term Democrat, told a press conference yesterday.
‘There is no imminent threat of an invasion of Seattle.’
She defended the group who had created the autonomous zone, calling their actions ‘patriotic’.
‘Unfortunately, our President wants to tell a story about domestic terrorists who have a radical agenda and are promoting a conspiracy that fits his law and order initiatives,’ Durkan added.