Law enforcement officers in Seattle have arrested at least 13 people in the city's protest zone after moving to vacate the area on the orders of the mayor, the Seattle Police Department announced via Twitter on Wednesday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st July, 2020) Law enforcement officers in Seattle have arrested at least 13 people in the city's protest zone after moving to vacate the area on the orders of the mayor, the Seattle Police Department announced via Twitter on Wednesday.
"Police on scene continue to issue dispersal orders. Officers have made approximately 10 arrests at this time. Anyone seeking to exit the area can still do so to the south, toward Pike Street," police said via Twitter before later adding: "Three additional arrests at 12/Pike."
The police also announced that an armed group was approaching law enforcement officers. They also warned that anyone who remains in the area is subject to arrest.
The arrests at the so-called Capitol Hill Organized Protest zone, or CHOP, began after officers gave multiple orders to the demonstrators to clear the area, the police said.
The police said they were clearing the area on the orders of the mayor to vacate the zone following a spate of deadly violence there.
They pointed out that since the protests began earlier this month, two teenagers have been killed and three people have been seriously injured in a spree of shootings. Moreover, the police have documented numerous robberies and assaults, among other violent crimes, they said.
"Because suspects in recent shootings may still be in the area, and because numerous people in the area are in possession of firearms, Seattle Police officers involved in this morning's response will be equipped with additional protective gear," the police said, while also posting a video with evidence of the violence in the area.
The Seattle officers are as a result wearing a higher level of protective gear, the police said.
"Police are utilizing this equipment because individuals associated w/the CHOP are known to be armed and dangerous/may be associated with shootings, homicides, robberies, assaults &other violent crimes," the police said.
A protester at the scene said in a broadcast posted to Facebook that police began arriving en masse shortly after 8 a.m. from the north and west, converging at the intersection of 12th and Pine streets and pushing everyone south to secure a perimeter.
City efforts to dismantle the zone have so far been thwarted by protesters, who reportedly blocked authorities from reaching a victim who was fatally wounded in last week's shootings.
Last week, one of the protest leaders, David Lewis, told Sputnik that the CHOP area is not an autonomous zone as alleged by President Donald Trump and others. He also said the group has no plans to secede.
The designated protest zone in the city has been established amid the ongoing protests against racial inequality triggered by the death of George Floyd, an African-American man who was killed in police custody in Minneapolis on May 25.
