A group of about 150 rioters in Seattle gathered late Wednesday and caused significant damage in the area formerly held as an autonomous zone, setting fires, breaking into businesses, and looting, police officials said.
Video footage and photographs showed rioters breaking into Rove Vintage before dragging clothes onto the street and setting them on fire. Rioters said they targeted the store because it is owned by the wife of a police officer.
Other businesses that suffered damage included a Starbucks, a Chase Bank, a Whole Foods, Uncle Ike’s, and Blue Dot.
The owners of Likelihood Seattle, a shoe store, told KOMO that rioters damaged their store but when they reached out to police officers, they were told nothing could be done.
The Seattle Police Department said in a statement that the rioters “roamed about the Capital Hill neighborhood, doing massive amounts of property damage, looting, shooting fireworks, and committing arson.”
As the group moved through downtown, they smashed windows, set fires, and looted, police said.
After an undetermined amount of time, the group returned to Cal Anderson Park and dispersed.
Antifa Militants and Rioters have lit a huge fire outside a business called “Rove.” Rove is owned by the wife of a Seattle Police Officer.#seattleprotests #seattleriots pic.twitter.com/yM5Zv7Hvui
— Katie Daviscourt???????? (@KatieDaviscourt) July 23, 2020
Police officials said no arrests were made and no officers were injured. The riots took place days after two were arrested for helping cause significant damage to both government buildings and private businesses.
The Seattle Police Department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on why no arrests were made overnight or why police officers didn’t stop the rioters.
Seattle officials tolerated the so-called autonomous zone, known as “CHAZ” or “CHOP,” for weeks before clearing occupiers earlier this month.
Police officers are facing increased pressure to keep the peace while limited in the tools at their disposal.
The Seattle City Council unanimously passed an ordinance last month banning a range of crowd control measures, including the use of CS gas. U.S. District Judge James Robart ruled Wednesday that the ordinance can go into effect on Sunday. He might reconsider after hearing arguments from attorneys for both sides.
City departments are prohibited from owning, purchasing, renting, storing, or using “crowd control weapons” like “chemical irritants, ultrasonic cannons … or any other device” to cause pain or discomfort, according to the ordinance.
Andrew Lewis, a councilman, praised the ruling, saying Robart recognized that “Constitutional policing (with a capital ‘C’) means we don’t tear gas peaceful protestors.”
All council members are Democrats except for Kshama Sawant, who is a socialist.
Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan, a Democrat, declined to veto the bill. Instead, she and Police Chief Carmen Best asked the court to stop the ordinance from going into effect until the Department of Justice and others review it. Federal oversight of the department has been in place since 2012 after a review found officers were using excessive force.
A majority of Seattle council members support a plan to defund the city’s police department by 50 percent.
Deputy Mayor Mike Fong said in a letter to council members that the department has already spent half of its annual budget, so a 50 percent cut would leave police with no budget for the rest of the year “and require the City to abolish the department.”
In a letter to the council this week, Best said she was “concerned by the clear disconnect” many of the recommendations, including slashing her department’s budget, “have from reality.”
Also this week, City Council President M. Lorena Gonzalez decried what she described as “targeted protests” at the homes of council members.
“Demonstrations are a protest tool but using that tool to create an environment by which people and their family members feel unsafe in their own homes is not something I can support,” she said.
“I urge protestors and my fellow elected officials to engage with each other in good faith and via the many tools available to access each other at City Hall, via virtual forums or during Full Council meetings that occur every Monday.”
From The Epoch Times
