Capitol Hill Occupied Protest facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Capitol Hill
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| Capitol Hill Occupied Protest | |
CHOP on June 9, 2020
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| Nickname(s):
CHOP or CHAZ
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Area occupied by CHOP
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 Capitol Hill
Location in Seattle WA Downtown
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| Designation | Self-declared autonomous zone |
| Established | June 8, 2020 |
| Disbanded | July 1, 2020 |
| Government | |
| • Type | Consensus decision-making, with daily meeting of protesters |
The Capitol Hill Occupied Protest (CHOP), also known as the Capitol Hill Organized Protest, originally Free Capitol Hill, later the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ), was an occupation protest and self-declared autonomous zone in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. The zone, originally covering two intersections at the corners of Cal Anderson Park and the roads leading up to them, was established on June 8, 2020, by people protesting the May 2020 killing of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The zone was cleared of occupants by police on July 1, 2020.
The formation of the zone was preceded by tense interactions between protesters and police in riot gear which began on June 1, 2020. The situation escalated on June 7 after a man drove his vehicle toward a crowd near 11th Avenue and Pine Street and shot a protester who tried to stop him. Tear gas, flashbangs and pepper spray were used by police in the densely populated residential neighborhood. On June 7, the SPD reported that protesters were throwing rocks, bottles, and fireworks, and were shining green lasers into officers' eyes. The next day, the SPD vacated and boarded up its East Precinct building in an effort to de-escalate the situation. After the SPD had vacated the East Precinct station, protesters moved into the Capitol Hill area. They repositioned street barricades in a one-block radius around the station and declared the area "Free Capitol Hill". The protest area was later renamed the Capitol Hill Organized Protest (CHOP).
The zone was a self-organized space without official leadership. Police were not welcome within the zone. Protesters demanded that Seattle's police budget be decreased by 50%, that funding be shifted to community programs and services in historically black communities, and that CHOP protesters not be charged with crimes. Participants created a block-long "Black Lives Matter" mural, provided free film screenings in the street, and performed live music. A "No Cop Co-op" was formed, with food, hand sanitizer and other supplies. Areas were set up for public speakers and to facilitate discourse, and a community vegetable garden was constructed.
The CHOP's size decreased on June 20, 21, and 23. On June 28, Durkan met with protesters and informed them that the city planned to remove most barricades and limit the area of the zone. Calling the situation "dangerous and unacceptable", police chief Carmen Best told reporters: "Enough is enough. We need to be able to get back into the area." On July 1, after Durkan issued an executive order, Seattle police cleared the area of protesters and reclaimed the East Precinct station. Protests continued in Seattle and at the CHOP site over the following days and months.
Contents
History
Background
Capitol Hill is a densely populated residential district on a steep hill just east of Seattle's downtown business district, known for its prominent LGBT and counterculture communities and its vibrant nightlife. The Seattle Police Department had been protested against in the past. Since 2012, the SPD had been under federal oversight after it had been found to use excessive force and biased policing.
Seattle had been the location of other mass protests, such as the 1999 WTO protests and Occupy Seattle. The city is home to several cultural institutions created by occupation protests, including the Northwest African American Museum, the Daybreak Star Cultural Center and El Centro de la Raza.
Protests over the murder of George Floyd and police brutality began in Seattle on May 29, 2020. Street clashes occurred in greater Seattle for nine days involving protesters, the Seattle Police Department, the Washington State Patrol and the Washington National Guard.
Aftermath
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Street protests continued after the zone was cleared. Protests continued in Seattle and at the CHOP site over the following days and months. The SPD reported vandalism in the Capitol Hill area during the night of July 19; fireworks were thrown into the East Precinct, starting a small fire which was rapidly extinguished. Donnitta Sinclair Martin, the mother of Lorenzo Anderson, filed a wrongful death claim against the city that the police and fire department had failed to protect or provide medical assistance for her son and city decisions had created a dangerous environment.
A group of 150 people returned to the Capitol Hill neighborhood late at night on July 23 and vandalized several businesses, including a shop owned by a relative of a police officer who fatally shot Charleena Lyles, a pregnant black woman, at her home in 2017. On July 25, several thousand protesters gathered in the Capitol Hill neighborhood for demonstrations in solidarity with Portland, Oregon. Tensions had escalated in Portland in early July after the Trump administration deployed federal forces against the wishes of local officials, sparking controversy and regenerating the protests. The Department of Homeland Security deployed an undisclosed number of federal agents in Seattle on July 23, without notifying local officials, adding to resident unease. An initially peaceful march during the early afternoon of July 25 by the Youth Liberation Front was designated a riot by the SPD after several businesses were destroyed, fires were started in five construction trailers near a future juvenile detention center, and the vehicles of several center employees were vandalized. Forty-seven people were arrested, and twenty-one police officers were injured. According to Crosscut, many protesters had participated in the understanding that the march's central issues (police brutality and federal overreach) were connected.
The New York Times reported on August 7 that weeks after the protests, several blocks remained boarded up and many business owners were afraid to speak out about their experiences. Carmen Best resigned as the chief of police three days later, after the Seattle City Council voted to downsize the department by up to 100 out of its 1,400 officers. Public hearings about the fate of the zone's public art and community garden began in August, and were expected to continue for several months.
On December 16, 2020, an expected third "sweep" of the park was met with resistance by the community. People created makeshift barriers and thwarted SPD's attempts to enter the park. While a federal court considered a temporary restraining order preventing the city from raiding the park, protesters took advantage of the turnout to occupy a private building owned by a real estate developer across the street from the northern end of the park.
Several business owners sued the city in 2020 for damages relating to government conduct during the protests. A federal judge found that the mayor, police chief, and other government officials then illegally deleted tens of thousands of text messages relating to government handling of CHOP. In 2022, the city settled a lawsuit with the Seattle Times for $200,000 over its handling of deleted texts and agreed to improve its record-keeping practices.
Territory
The zone was initially centered around the East Precinct building, and barriers were set up on Pine Street for several blocks to stop incoming vehicles. The early territory reportedly encompassed five-and-a-half city blocks, including Cal Anderson Park (already active with demonstrators). It stretched north to East Denny Way, east to 12th Avenue (and part of 13th Avenue), south to East Pike, and west to Broadway. On June 9, one entrance to the zone was marked by a barrier reading "You Are Entering Free Capitol Hill". Other signs read, "You are now leaving the USA" and "Welcome to the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone". Signage on the police station was modified as protesters rebranded it the "Seattle People's Department".
On June 16, after city officials agreed with protest organizers about a new footprint, the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) installed concrete barriers wrapped in plywood in several areas along Pine Street and 10th and 12th Avenues (shrinking the area). The revised barrier spacing provided improved access for business deliveries, and the design offered space for decoration by artists affiliated with the protests. The new layout was posted on Durkan's blog: "The City is committed to maintaining space for community to come to together, protest and exercise their first amendment rights. Minor changes to the protest zone will implement safer and sturdier barriers to protect individuals in this area."
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KIRO-FM reported that on June 17, a large tent encampment was set up on 11th Avenue between Pike and Pine Streets and half of Cal Anderson Park "turned into a huge tent encampment with a massive community garden." The zone's borders were not clearly defined, and shifted daily. Its size was reduced over time, with The Seattle Times reporting that the area had "shrunk considerably" by June 24. Demonstrators redirected their focus to the East Precinct on June 23, when "the Capitol Hill protest zone camp cleared parts of its Cal Anderson Park core."
On June 30, police and other city employees removed a number of concrete barricades and concentrated others closer to the East Precinct. That day, notices were posted announcing a noon closure of Cal Anderson Park for cleaning and repairs; the garden and art created by protesters would be undisturbed. The remaining territory was cleared by Seattle police on July 1, and Cal Anderson Park was reportedly closed for repairs.
Culture and amenities
Services
Protesters established the No Cop Co-op on June 9, offering free water, hand sanitizer, kebabs and snacks donated by the community. Stalls offered vegan curry, and others collected donations for the homeless. Organizers pitched tents next to the former precinct to hold the space. Two medical stations were established in the zone to provide basic health care, and the Seattle Department of Transportation provided portable toilets. The city provided waste removal, additional portable toilets and fire and rescue services, and the SPD said that it responded to 911 calls in the zone. The King County public health department provided COVID-19 testing in Cal Anderson Park for a period of time during the protests.
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On June 11, The Seattle Times reported that restaurant owners in the area had an uptick in walk-up business and a corresponding reduction in delivery costs. USA Today reported three days later that most businesses in the zone had closed, "although a liquor store, ramen restaurant and taco joint are still doing brisk business." According to The New York Times, "business crashed".
Community gardens
Vegetable gardens had materialized by June 11 in Cal Anderson Park, where activists began to grow a variety of foods from seedlings. The gardens were inaugurated with a basil plant introduced by Marcus Henderson, a resident of Seattle's Columbia City neighborhood. Activists expanded the gardens, which were "cultivated by and for BIPOC" and included signs heralding black agriculturalists and commemorating victims of police violence. Henderson established his gardening movement as Black Star Farmers, and after the dissipation of the CHOP launched a GoFundMe to continue the work. After the park was cleared on July 1, he called supporters of the garden to help him advocate to the city that they allow it to remain as the Black Lives Memorial Garden. The effort succeeded as perhaps the least controversial proposition for how to make use of the public space in Cal Anderson Park after the CHOP's closure. However, in early October 2023, the Seattle Parks & Recreation Department announced their intent to remove the Black Lives Memorial Garden in favor of a "turf renovation" project for the site. The department, backed by SPD, bulldozed the garden at 6am on 27 December 2023.
Arts and culture
The intersection of 12th and Pine was converted into a square for teach-ins (where a microphone was used for organizing) and to encourage those with destructive intentions to leave the area. An area at 11th and Pine was set aside as the "Decolonization Conversation Café", a discussion area with daily topics. An outdoor cinema with a sound system and projector was set up on June 9 and screened films, including 13th (a 2016 documentary by Ava DuVernay) and Paris Is Burning, a 1990 documentary by Jennie Livingston.
The Marshall Law Band (a Seattle-based hip-hop fusion group) began performing for protesters during the week of June 1–8 when protesters were confronting police at what was known as "the Western barricade" due to it being one block West of the entrance to the East Precinct. During this week, they played several hour sets with a sign of the protest demands near the stage every single night. The stage was close enough to the barricade that at times when relations between the protesters and cops got violent the band found themselves in the line of fire. They kept performing, even when there was tear gas in the air and rubber bullets being fired. The band continued playing regularly once the CHOP was established. In November 2020, Marshall Law Band released an album called 12th & Pine about their experience as the "House band of the CHOP".
A block-long Black Lives Matter street mural, on East Pine Street between 10th and 11th Avenues, was painted on June 10 and 11. Individual letters of the mural were painted by local artists of color, and supplies were purchased with donations from demonstrators and passersby.
Shrines
Visitors lit candles and left flowers at three shrines with photographs and notes expressing sentiments related to George Floyd and other victims of police brutality. Persons for whom shrines, murals, and/or vigils were created:
| Person | Reason for memorializing | Type of memorial | Medium/components | Ref. |
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| Charleena Lyles | Died from SPD action | Mural | Spray paint and ply wood | |
| George Floyd | Murdered by a Minneapolis police officer | Mural, Shrine | Spray paint and ply wood | |
| Lorenzo Anderson | Died in a shooting at the edge of the CHOP | Shrine | Flowers and balloons |
On June 19, events ranging from a "grief ritual" to a dance party were held to observe Juneteenth.
Internal governance
Occupants of the zone favored consensus decision-making in the form of general assembly, with daily meetings and discussion groups an alternative to designated leaders.
Protesters held frequent town hall meetings to decide strategy and make plans. Seattle officials said that they saw no evidence of antifa groups organizing in the zone, but some small-business owners blamed antifa for intimidating their patrons. SPD Chief Carmen Best said on June 15, "There is no cop-free zone in the city of Seattle", indicating that officers would go into the zone if there were threats to public safety. "I think that the picture has been painted in many areas that shows the city is under siege," she added. "That is not the case." On August 7, The New York Times described the zone as police abolition in practice, reporting that police generally did not respond to calls in the zone.
Misinformation about its governance circulated. Conservative journalist Andy Ngo shared a video on June 15 of Seattle-based hip hop artist Raz Simone handing a rifle from the trunk of his car to another protester on June 8 (the day the zone was established) after "rumors developed [within the Zone] that members of the right-wing group Proud Boys were going to move into the protest area to set fires and stir chaos." CNN later called Simone the zone's "de facto leader", which he denied. Unbeknownst to the public at the time, Raz was in contact with Seattle Fire Chief Harold Scoggins during his time in CHOP. Simone left the area around July 15.
Names for the area
The protest area had several names; the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ) was most common at the outset, along with "Free Capitol Hill". By its second week, the area was more often referred to as the Capitol Hill Organized Protest (CHOP).
On June 13, a group of several dozen protest leaders agreed to change the name from CHAZ to CHOP. The name change was the result of a consensus to de-emphasize occupation and improve accuracy. According to TechCrunch, participants decided to change the name to "the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest—then, noting the fact that Seattle itself is an 'occupation' of native land, change the O to Organized." During the second week of formation, a number of media outlets reported on the name change including The Seattle Times on June 14; KING-TV, KUOW, The Stranger, and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer on June 15; Vox on June 16; and Crosscut on June 17.
Demands
The number of demands was debated; some believed that the protests were the beginning of a larger revolution, and others said that police brutality should remain the immediate focus. The protesters settled on three main demands:
- Reducing city police funding by 50%;
- Redistribute funds to community efforts, such as restorative justice and health care; and
- Ensure that protesters would not be criminally liable.
One early list (released June 9 in a Medium post attributed to "The Collective Black Voices at Free Capitol Hill") outlined 30 demands, beginning with the abolition of the Seattle Police Department, the armed forces, and prisons.
On June 10, about 1,000 protesters marched into Seattle City Hall demanding Durkan's resignation.
Security
Protesters accepted open carry of firearms as a provision of safety. Members of the self-described anti-fascist, anti-racist and pro-worker Puget Sound John Brown Gun Club (PSJBGC) were reported on June 9 as carrying rifles in the zone in response to rumors of an attack by the right-wing Proud Boys. Although the zone was in the restricted area subject to Durkan's May 30 emergency order prohibiting the use of weapons (including guns), her ban did not mandate enforcement. The Washington Post reported on June 12 that PSJBGC was on site with no visible weapons, and USA Today reported that day that "no one appeared armed with a gun". Reporters from a Tacoma-based Fox affiliate were chased out of the zone by occupants on June 9.
Area businesses hired private protection services, including Iconic Global, Homeland Patrol Division and Fortress Security, during the occupation. The services deployed men and women (some in uniform and others in plainclothes, armed with AR-15 style rifles and pepper spray) to patrol the zone on foot and in SUVs. Volunteers in the area formed an informal group to provide security, emphasizing de-escalation and preventing vandalism.
Outside threats from the Proud Boys and Patriot Prayer
Since the protest began, protesters were reportedly aware of the threat posed by the far-right groups Patriot Prayer (active in the Pacific Northwest) and the Proud Boys, a national neo-fascist hate group. On June 15, armed members of the Proud Boys appeared in the zone at a Capitol Hill rally. The group intended to confront what it called protesters' "authoritarian behavior", and video of the clashes went viral.
Proud Boys affiliate and brawler Tusitala "Tiny" Toese was filmed in the zone punching a man and breaking his cellphone on June 15. Toese has been known in the Pacific Northwest for fighting as a leader of Patriot Prayer and, after early 2019, as a chauvinist member of the Proud Boys. He has been called "the right-wing protester most frequently arrested in Portland." A Washington State resident, Toese is the subject of several reports by Portland's Willamette Week. Toese was later arrested for violating probation, due to video evidence of assault in the CHOP.
See also
In Spanish: Zona Autónoma de Capitol Hill para niños
