© REUTERS/Lindsey WassonCity Councilmember Kshama Sawant speaks to protesters outside Mayor Jenny Durkan's home
Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan sent heavy machinery to remove concrete barricades around the CHOP 'autonomous zone' and called for a probe of a council member, after protesters showed up outside her residence.
Under the cover of rain on Tuesday, vehicles operated by city workers removed the barricades set up around the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest (CHOP, formerly known as CHAZ), an area spanning several blocks of downtown Seattle under control of protesters - including Black Lives Matter, Antifa and anarchists - since early June.
Unlike Friday's attempt to dismantle the barricades, which ended with city workers retreating after a two-hour standoff, there were no protesters physically blocking the machinery this time. Instead, they moved furniture, bins and other objects into the street afterward, according to KIRO-TV reporter Deedee Sun.CHOP protesters objected to the removal because "barricades save lives," Sun
reported, noting that they objected to their original deployment by the city two weeks prior. Critics of CHOP had also been opposed, saying the city was basically aiding and abetting the rioters.
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