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Trump Fumes as Protesters Stake Out Festive Zone in Seattle

Associated Press

   SEATTLE, WASH. - Following days of violent confrontations with
   protesters, police in Seattle have largely withdrawn from part of a
   neighborhood where protesters have created a festival-like scene that
   has President Donald Trump fuming.
   Trump taunted Gov. Jay Inslee and Mayor Jenny Durkan about the
   situation on Twitter and said the city had been taken over by
   "anarchists." "Take back your city NOW. If you don't do it, I will,"
   Trump tweeted.
   The president continued his complaints in a Thursday interview with the
   Fox News Channel. "If we have to go in, we're going to go in," Trump
   said. "These people are not going to occupy a major portion of a great
   city."
   The "Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone" stretches over a couple city blocks
   and sprung up after police on Monday removed barricades near the East
   Precinct and basically abandoned the structure after officers used tear
   gas, pepper spray and flash bangs over the weekend to disperse
   demonstrators they said were assaulting them with projectiles.
   The president has sparred before with Inslee and Durkan -- both liberal
   Democrats. Inslee previously sought his party's presidential
   nomination.
   Inslee tweeted Thursday that state officials will not allow threats of
   military violence from the White House. "The U.S. military serves to
   protect Americans, not the fragility of an insecure president," he
   tweeted.
   The zone set up by protesters stretches a portion of Capitol Hill,
   where dozens of people show up to listen to speakers calling for police
   reform, racial justice and compensation for Native groups on whose land
   the city of Seattle was founded.
   Signs proclaim "You are entering free Capitol Hill" and "No cop co-op"
   along sidewalks where people sell water and other wares. On Thursday,
   speakers used a microphone to discuss their demands and how to address
   the police presence after they visited the precinct during the day.
   Down the street, artists continued painting a block-long "Black Lives
   Matter" mural on the street.
   "The people that you see here have all come together because we see
   injustice in our system and we want to be part of the solution," said
   Mark Henry Jr. of Black Lives Matter.

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