‘CHOP’ Falls: Seattle Police Disband Autonomous Zone, Reclaim Precinct

Seattle Police are reclaiming their east precinct after nearly a month of an anarchist takeover of the City’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. The force began moving into the area Wednesday during the early morning hours, making 10 arrests, according to reports.

Formed in the wake of the tragic death of George Floyd, the area, known as ‘CHOP,’ or the ‘Capitol Hill Organized Protest’ was created to establish autonomy from the police. Since it’s founding, however, the area has been the scene of four shootings that resulted in two fatalities and has reportedly seen multiple incidents of sexual assault, violence, and robberies.

Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan, who once hailed the area as the “summer of love” ordered that the “unlawful assembly” be dismantled and instructed law enforcement to take immediate action Wednesday.

“As I have said, and I will say again, I support peaceful demonstrations. Black Lives Matter, and I too want to help propel this movement toward meaningful change in our community. But enough is enough,” said Police Chief Carmen Best in a response to the Mayor’s decision.

A reported Twitter account for ‘CHOP’ has also been suspended. However, an earlier tweet showed that the leaders of ‘CHOP’ had acknowledged the end to their experiment saying, “Over the last two weeks, we achieved what no one thought possible. We successfully built a self-governing community and convinced city leaders to enact meaningful police reform, including substantial budget cuts to the SPD.”