Hey folks, I live in Seattle and up till a couple years ago I lived on Capitol Hill. I still have friends living there. So I thought I’d provide some local insight into the CHAZ (Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone).
There is a lot of misinformation out there, especially from Fox News, which photoshopped a gunman into pics, wow.
First, the best resources to find CHAZ info are local to Seattle: The Seattle Times, Capitol Hill Blog, and the CHAZ livestream where you can see the streets for yourself.
Capitol Hill is a very densely populated neighborhood full of apartment buildings and bustling restaurants and bars. If you work there, you live there (because it is hard to navigate by car, like NYC), and if you live there, you are probably super liberal. It’s also the center of counter-culture and LGBTQ culture in Seattle.
Are the protesters terrorizing the locals?
No, the protesters ARE the locals. They live in the many, many apartment buildings on Capitol Hill. Having lived there for years, believe me when I say “fuck the police” is a prevalent opinion there even when there isn’t a nationwide protest.
Is there looting? How are businesses protecting themselves?
The local businesses are not being looted; they are open and are doing a booming business. Also, a lot of workers / business owners ARE protesters.
I saw a picture of Seattle on fire!
Actually you saw a picture of a protest in Minnesota that Fox News pretended was Seattle because they are frauds and shills.
How big is the Autonomous Zone?
How did this situation come about?
There was a peaceful march. The mayor abruptly set a 5 pm curfew. The protesters ignored it and marched anyway. Then the police set up barricades to stop the march. The cops started using tear-gas and flash-bangs and the situation devolved from there. (You can find videos of this on Capitol Hill Blog.) What prompted the tear-gas was … one of the protesters thrust a pink umbrella over the barrier. Yes, really.
The situation deteriorated for several days/nights running until the police abandoned the East Precinct on Capitol Hill. The violence was very one-sided: the police attacking the protesters.
Then the police left. From what I heard the mayor ordered them out due to rumors or fears that the police station would be burned down? Which didn’t happen. Anyway, they abruptly left. As in, hired a literal moving truck and emptied out their headquarters, in almost a comedic beat.
Do you have to show your ID to enter the Autonomous Zone?
No. People come and go freely. City services are also allowed to come and go (and I presume delivery trucks but I haven’t looked into that.)
What’s with the physical barriers if people can come and go freely?
They’re to keep vehicles out.
Backstory: While the protests were ongoing, a guy (whose brother was an East Precinct cop) tried to ram his car into a crowd of protesters. A brave man eating a hot dog threw himself at the side of the car, grabbed the steering wheel through the open window, and stopped him. Whereupon cop-brother-car-man shot him with a gun.
Personally I think cop-brother-car-man was planning a mass shooting because he had extra ammo taped to his hoodie sleeve. You can see the blue tape on his arm in the pic above. (The protester who was shot thankfully survived. Check out those brave medics tending him while an ACTIVE SHOOTER is standing feet away!)
But anyway, that’s why there are barriers. I believe they move them aside for approved vehicles, like emergency vehicles or deliveries.
Are there people with guns roaming around?
Not on a regular basis, although I’ve heard a local gun club had some members there one night when it was rumored the Proud Boys (a Nazi group) might show up. (They didn’t.) But in general, no.
No. The neighborhood is fully on board and overall there is a festive atmosphere. There are speeches about BLM, about discrimination, about what people want for the neighborhood. There are first aid stations, medics and counselors, and people offering free pizza. If you watch the livestreams, you can see people walking their dogs, out with their kids, etc.
I don’t know. The barriers can’t stay up forever and I think everyone knows that. The “Autonomous Zone” name is tongue-in-cheek, the protesters aren’t actually trying to secede from the United States. Basically, this is a boiling over of frustration. The police have never been good-faith neighbors on Capitol Hill. Also Seattle police have always been pretty racist and had a problem with excessive force.
Look at this whole situation. All the police had to do was stand back and let the protesters march; they would have marched and gone home and that would be that. All the police had to do was nothing. Instead they turned a neighborhood into a warzone.
By the way, did you know that yesterday (6/12) in a different Seattle neighborhood 60,000 people marched to support BLM? And because the city had learned its lesson about dumbass curfews, they let everyone march and nothing bad happened.
Weird how the national news didn’t report on that march, huh? Almost like they cherrypick the protests that will appear “scary” to their audience.
