Earlier peaceful protests come to explosive end on Capitol Hill

SEATTLE — Hours of peaceful protests came to an explosive end in Seattle overnight.

Just after midnight Wednesday, police used flash bangs and tear gas to scatter crowds gathered on Seattle's Capitol hill.

Protesters chanted George Floyd’s name, called for no more tear gas and for officers to take off their riot gear, but remained peaceful.

After midnight, things took a turn. People ran through the streets when officers fired tear gas.

It all lasted about 45 minutes before things were calm again. Police stood guard at the East Precinct all night just in case.

The demonstrations once again defied the 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew, which was extended by the mayor through Saturday.

The demonstrations started in two groups Tuesday. The first happened around Westlake Park at about 3 p.m.

>>Seattle under evening curfews through Saturday; protests continue for 5th day

Many of them then walked up to Cal Anderson Park in the Capitol Hill neighborhood. As that group held speeches, thousands of people gathered outside Seattle’s Emergency Operations Center at Fifth Avenue and Jackson Street.

It was there that Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan, police Chief Carmen Best and fire Chief Harold Scoggins spoke to protesters. They promised to review the department’s use of pepper spray and flash-bang grenades to break up a crowd of peaceful demonstrators Monday night.

The department insisted that demonstrators threw fireworks and tried to storm a barricade near a police station, but video posted on Reddit and Facebook showed that the chaos began when an officer grabbed a pink umbrella that a demonstrator was holding just across a barricade. Other officers nearby then began spraying chemicals.

After hearing from city officials, the group then walked to Capitol Hill.

Marchers made their way up Pike Street to the barricades at the Seattle Police Department’s East Precinct around 6 p.m.

Even though the two groups appeared to blend together, they disagreed on how to approach the protests. The group that had been in the park seemed to want to distance itself from another group that favored aggression.

It is not yet known what caused police to fire tear gas.

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