Protesters have commandeered a section of Seattle and declared it an “autonomous zone,” but Mayor Jenny Durkan doesn’t seem to care.

She has denied reports from Seattle police officers that protesters within the six-block zone, known as the CHAZ, are extorting businesses and threatening other residents, and has instead insisted that activities within the zone have been nothing but peaceful. I’m not sure the officers who were forcibly removed from their precinct would agree. And neither would the pro-life activist who was shouted out of the CHAZ by angry protesters. Nor would the resident accused of stealing who was cornered and harassed by a group of protesters, one of whom waved a baseball bat in his face.