Backed up by bikes and armored vehicles, legions of cops have swooped into Seattle’s Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ) after Mayor Jenny Durkan ordered that the area, taken over by Black Lives Matter protesters, be vacated.
The officers descended on the six-block anarchist encampment in the early hours of Wednesday morning, hours after receiving the order from Mayor Durkan. The mayor had previously been reluctant to retake the six-block zone, but a spate of recent shootings – the most recent leaving one black teenager dead and another seriously injured – appeared to force her hand.
In video footage captured from the scene, two police SUVs can be seen arriving at an intersection, followed by dozens of officers on bicycles.
Police used loudspeakers to order the occupants to disperse, and at least ten arrests have already been made. Shortly after moving in, live footage from inside CHAZ showed police officers searching through the makeshift shanty town of tents that had sprung up along Pine Street.
