Seattle’s police chief said it was not her decision to abandon a police station that was taken over by protesters.
In a video address, Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best criticized city officials for giving in to demonstrators and abandoning a neighborhood that has since been taken over by protesters and dubbed an “autonomous zone,” according to the New York Post.
“You fought for days to protect [the precinct]. I asked you to stand on that line day in and day out, to be pelted with projectiles, to be screamed at, threatened, and, in some cases, hurt,” Best told police officers in her video statement. “Then to have a change of course nearly two weeks in, it seems like an insult to you and our community.”
“Ultimately, the city had other plans for the building and relented to severe public pressure,” she added. “I’m angry about how this all came about.”
Police abandoned the East Precinct in the Capitol Hill neighborhood in Seattle this week, with protesters blocking off streets, posting armed guards, and issuing a list of demands.
Those demands included the abolition of the court system, dismantlement of the Police Department, eliminating youth jails, and investigations into every case of police brutality in the past.
President Trump called the protesters “domestic terrorists.”
Domestic Terrorists have taken over Seattle, run by Radical Left Democrats, of course. LAW & ORDER!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 11, 2020
Protests have popped up across the country over the last two weeks following the death of George Floyd. Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, died on Memorial Day after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.
The officer who pressed a knee to Floyd’s neck, Derek Chauvin, was fired from the department and has been charged with second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. The three other officers who were involved in detaining Floyd, who was suspected of using a fake $20 bill, were also fired and charged with aiding and abetting murder.
