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 — …
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.
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.
