Seattle Police make 44 arrests for failure to disperse, assault, obstruction………Mayor vs. Councilmember who allowed illegal occupation
Update at 5:30 PM
Seattle Police have made 44 arrests for failure to disperse, assault, obstruction, pedestrian interference and malicious mischief.
Police deployed pepper spray during the arrest of an individual who was armed with a metal pole. In a separate incident, an officer used a single less lethal 40mm sponge round on a man who appeared to be brandishing a metal pipe.
Mayor Durkan’s Executive Order remains in effect this evening. Officers will disperse groups or individuals as needed, or make arrests, to ensure safety in the area.
Thank you to those who have complied with the Mayor’s order, and to the Capitol Hill community for letting us continue to serve you.
Update 7/2/20 at 5:30 AM
Starting just before midnight, and for the next several hours, officers made a number of arrests of individuals in and around the area of Broadway and East Pine. A total of 25 individuals were arrested for failure to disperse, assault, and obstructing.
Police deployed blast balls and pepper spray while attempting to make arrests after individuals in the crowd began throwing bottles at officers.
Mayor Durkan’s Executive Order remains in effect today. Officers will disperse groups or individuals as needed, or make arrests, to ensure safety in the area.
Mayor Durkan calls for investigation of City Councilwoman:
Using her official position and possibly staff to encourage attendants at a rally she led on June 28, 2020 to illegally “occupy” City property, the East Precinct, at a time the City has been trying to de-escalate the situation and ask individuals to depart because of violence in the area. Days earlier, members of the Black community had asked that this facility be restored as an active police facility, particularly in light of the fact it was created at the request of the Black community by actions of former Councilmember Sam Smith to serve the Central District. We have had a series of devastating gun violence around this location, including early yesterday morning on Capitol Hill. (Photo attached)
• Using her official position to lead a march to my home, despite the fact that it was publicly known I was not there, and she and organizers knew that my address was protected under the state confidentiality program because of threats against me due largely to my work as U.S. Attorney. All of us have joined hundreds of demonstrations across the City, but Councilmember Sawant and her followers chose to do so with reckless disregard of the safety of my family and children. In addition, during or after Councilmember Sawant’s speech at that rally, her followers vandalized my home by spray-painting obscenities.
The Seattle City Council won’t fulfill Mayor Jenny Durkan’s request to investigate and potentially expel Councilmember Kshama Sawant for alleged bad behavior, Council President M. Lorena González said Wednesday Seattletimes reported.
González said she wants the council to concentrate on other work.
Statement by Attorney General William P. Barr on the Restoration of Law and Order in Seattle
Attorney General William P. Barr has issued the following statement:
July 1 “I commend Police Chief Carmen Best for her courage and leadership in restoring the rule of law in Seattle. For the past several weeks, the Capitol Hill area of Seattle was occupied by protesters who denied access to police and other law enforcement personnel.
Unsurprisingly, the area became a haven for violent crime, including shootings that claimed the lives of two young people, assaults, and robberies. As Chief Best made clear throughout the process, there is a fundamental distinction between discussion of substantive issues — including addressing distrust of law enforcement by many in the African-American community — and violent defiance of the law.
Chief Best has rightly committed to continue the substantive discussion while ending the violence, which threatens innocent people and undermines the very rule-of-law principles that the protesters profess to defend. Thanks to the Seattle Police Department, Capitol Hill parks, streets, and businesses are again accessible to the people of Seattle, who may travel throughout their city without fear of violence.
The people of Seattle should be grateful to Chief Best and her Department for their professional and steadfast defense of the rule of law. The message of today’s action is simple but significant: the Constitution protects the right to speak and assemble freely, but it provides no right to commit violence or defy the law, and such conduct has no place in a free society governed by law.”