Seattle Mayor Jenny Dercan said protesters in the “autonomous zone” proclaimed in the central part of the city need to come back home after firing took place in the area over the weekend.
“It’s time for people to return home,” the mayor of Seattle said at a press conference, noting that “it’s time to restore Cal Anderson’s (park) and Capitol Hill.”
“The implications for businesses, local people and the community are far too great,” she said.
Derkan said that instead of confronting, the city’s authorities prefer to reach a solution through negotiations, but Seattle’s police chief Carmen Best emphasized at the same time that law enforcement would seek greater powers to use force.
“There is no specific date by which I can promise that everything will be allowed, but we will continue to work with our partners and organizations led by blacks, to start letting them in and talk to the people who are there and urge them to protest differently and elsewhere”, – said the mayor of Seattle.
Earlier, protesters in Seattle declared the “autonomous zone” in the central part of the city, and police officers were ordered to leave the area to reduce tensions. The NBC News television channel reports that, according to a local resident, on Monday there were from 200 to 250 tents set up by the protesters in the area.
On Saturday, firing occurred on the territory controlled by the protesters. According to a Seattle police statement, the police arrived in the area around 2.30 after receiving reports of the shooting, but the crowd did not allow them to reach the victims. Police later said that both injured people were taken to hospital. One of them, a 19-year-old man, died, the other remained in critical condition in the hospital. Police failed to identify the shooters.
Earlier, the US President Donald Trump wrote on Twitter that “internal terrorists took over Seattle”, and criticized Washington Governor Jay Insley and City Mayor Jenny Durkan, who, in his opinion, are not fighting the riots. In response, Durkan advised Trump to “return to the bunker.”