[SEATTLETIMES] Welcome to the CHAZ, the newly named Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, where most everything was free Tuesday.Free snacks at the No-Cop Co-op. Free gas masks from some guy’s sedan. Free speech at the speaker’s circle, where anyone could say their piece. A free documentary movie — Ava DuVernay’s "13th" — showing after dark.A Free Capitol Hill, according to no shortage of spray paint on building facades. And perhaps most important to demonstrators, the neighborhood core was free of uniformed police.
A new protest society — centered on a handful of blocks in Seattle’s quirky, lefty Capitol Hill — has been born from the demonstrations that pushed the Seattle Police Department out of its East Precinct building.
On Tuesday, demonstrators hung a banner on the cop shoppe: "THIS SPACE IS NOW PROPERTY OF THE SEATTLE PEOPLE." Teenagers passed a bottle on the exit ramp for police vehicles. A young man carried a long rifle down the sidewalk, despite the mayor’s ban on weapons in Capitol Hill, which has not been clearly enforced.
A man passed out flyers calling for a Thursday meeting to help answer the question now lingering for demonstrators.
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Unconfirmed rumors circulated among demonstrators that white supremacists intend to target protesters now that police are gone, Lee said, which was concerning.
Lee supports redirecting funding toward social services and re-envisioning the role of police, which she said wasn’t working for the community or the police.
“I do wonder if that’s going to work long term or not,” Lee said of the autonomous zone. “But, I’m willing to see and find out.”
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“We’re not real easy with the autonomous zone. My understanding is they’re patrolling and protecting, but they’re just random guys and they have a gun,” Hendrickson said, referring to reports of armed people on the Hill. “The street’s barricaded so emergency vehicles can’t get through.” (Demonstrators during a Wednesday live stream said they were responding to community concerns over egress.)
Seattle police Wednesday said they wanted to identify and talk with protest leaders about reopening the precinct.