Seattle protesters briefly occupy City Hall, return to movie night in 'autonomous' and 'cop-free' enclave

Protesters occupy City Hall
(Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/King5)

After a tumultuous Sunday night of protests and tear gas in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood, police boarded up and vacated the East Precinct headquarters Monday and the protesters moved in, setting up barriers and declaring a "cop-free" enclave they are calling the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, or CHAZ. On Tuesday night, hundreds of protesters marched to City Hall and occupied the empty building for about an hour, listening to speeches and calls for the resignation of Mayor Jenny Durkan and defunding police department. They didn't have to break in — Kshama Sawant, a member of the city council, brought her key and let them in, King 5 reports.

The protesters left City Hall at about 10 p.m., and by 11 p.m., several groups of protesters had congregated back at CHAZ to watch the Ava DuVernay documentary 13th, about racial inequality in America and the criminal justice system, The Seattle Times reports. The autonomous zone includes a memorial to George Floyd, a snack station, a medic booth, and a section for street artists.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Continue reading for free

We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.

Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.

Peter Weber

Peter Weber is a senior editor at TheWeek.com, and has handled the editorial night shift since the website launched in 2008. A graduate of Northwestern University, Peter has worked at Facts on File and The New York Times Magazine. He speaks Spanish and Italian and plays bass and rhythm cello in an Austin rock band. Follow him on Twitter.