Protesters at Seattle’s “Capitol Hill Occupied Protest” zone have begun packing up their tents after nighttime violence reaches a boiling point.
A Twitter account, claiming to be the “official account” for CHOP, posted on Wednesday, encouraging their fellow “Comrades in the struggle” to continue the fight via “virtual activism.”
“Last night, Solidarity Committee received notice from some of our trusted partners that persons in the park were in danger. We immediately implemented our emergency relocation plan, successfully evacuating most of the park. Thankfully, no danger materialized. However, we are now left with the reality that very few people remain in our beloved CHOP,” the account wrote. “The CHOP project is now concluded.”
It remains unclear if the account is actually associated with the organizers of the protest. Identifying it as such is particularly difficult, given that there is no clear leadership within the CHOP zone.
An important message from #CHOP #CHOPSeattle. Please amplify. Thank you for your support over the last two weeks. #ChopWasASuccess #CHOPcomms #CHOPCHAZ ☂️☂️☂️ #BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/7e5ISrWvX6
— Capitol Hill Occupied Protest (Official Account) (@CHOPOfficialSEA) June 24, 2020
The account also warned that CHOP protesters had been briefed by city officials that police were going to return to the East Precinct, the police precinct abandoned when protests began, no later than early next week.
The post concluded by encouraging people to vote for former Vice President Joe Biden, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, and Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan. The last endorsement, if given by actual organizers of the protest, represents a remarkable shift, given that at the beginning of the movement, demonstrators took over City Hall and demanded the mayor’s resignation.
Andre Taylor, founder of the organization Not This Time, has begun urging people to leave the zone at night. “If there was no violence, you should’ve stood there for as [long as] you wanted to stay there, but the violence creates a different narrative where the people in authority have to look at it differently,” Taylor said.
Several shootings have taken place in or near the CHOP in recent days, and in response, Mayor Durkan has promised that police will retake the area “peacefully and in the near future.”
The CHOP zone was established earlier this month in response to the death of George Floyd. Floyd, a black man, died in police custody late last month after a white officer knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes.
While it appears that there are still some protesters in the area, the number of them is down significantly.
