Seattle Mayor Defends CHOP Despite Violence, Decision To Dismantle Protest: ‘Place Of Healing, Education’

Seattle’s mayor Jenny Durkan, who once called the Capitol Hill Occupied (or Ongoing) Protest (CHOP) a “block party” and contended that protesters were hosting a “summer of love” is still defending the six-block “autonomous zone” despite her own decision to “wind down” CHOP amid increasing violence.

Police officers will dismantle the demonstration and return to the city’s East Precinct, located inside the CHOP zone as early as Tuesday after a series of shootings over the weekend left one man dead and at least two others wounded. One victim remains in critical condition.