One year later: CHOP declared in Capitol Hill

SEATTLE — The Capitol Hill Organized Protest, or CHOP, was established in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle one year ago on Tuesday.

The self-declared autonomous zone covered six city blocks and Cal Anderson Park and was the result of tense interactions between George Floyd protestors and police in riot gear that began on June 1, 2020.

Police used tear gas, flashbangs and pepper spray on protestors in the densely populated neighborhood.

An apex was reached on June 7 when a man drove his car into the crowd and shot a protestor.

The police reported that protestors were throwing rocks, bottles and fireworks and shining lasers in officers’ eyes.

On June 8, the police boarded up the East Precinct and moved out in an effort to de-escalate the situation.

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Seattle police, city workers clear out CHOP Seattle police cleared protesters from the six-block CHOP zone after Mayor Jenny Durkan issued a 48-hour executive order to vacate the area early Wednesday. (KIRO 7 News)

CHOP organizers made demands including cutting the police budget by 50%, shifting funds to community programs to historically black communities and ensuring protestors would not be charged with crimes.

Mayor Jenny Durkan responded after shootings around the zone on June 20, 21 and 23, declaring that the Seattle Police Department would return peacefully in the near future.

Durkan met with CHOP organizers on June 28 and told them the city planned to remove most barricades and limit their area to the East Precinct building and the street in front of it.

On June 29, a fourth shooting left a 16-year-old boy dead and a 14-year-old in critical condition.

CHOP was abolished on July 1 after the mayor issued an executive order and the occupants were cleared by police.

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