Mayor Durkan Calls for "Peace," Chief Best Swaps Pepper Spray for "Riot Stick"

The Stranger ^ | 7/24/20 | Rich Smith

[Libloather]

As a deadly pandemic resurges in Washington, city leaders in Seattle are preparing for a weekend of probable Portland-level conflict between newly arrived federal agents, the Seattle Police Department, and...let's call them.................groups of demonstrators using different strategies to protest police brutality and a capitalist, white supremacist, colonialist patriarchy that relies on state violence to sustain itself.

**SNIP**

Durkan asked the city to "stand together to denounce" a group of protesters who busted up and lit fires within businesses and public buildings last Sunday afternoon and Wednesday night. She said this "relatively small" group is "bent on destruction," and referenced social media posts showing "they want to continue that kind of fight" this weekend.

Durkan argued these "acts of destruction...could serve as fodder for the President's attempts to show there's a need for him to come into Seattle or other cities," and said Trump's use of federal agents to crack down on protesters in Democratic cities "is frightening."

"Please don't take the bait. Don't buy into it. Be peaceful," Durkan said.

**SNIP**

The Seattle City Council unanimously passed the law after police kettled and gassed PROTESTERS - nearly killing ONE - at 11th and Pine for days, which has drawn a lawsuit from Black Lives Matter Seattle-King County and others. On Wednesday a judge blocked a move from Durkan and Best to stop the law from going into effect. A court order barring cops from using gas and blast balls against peaceful protesters expires on September 30, though police may use such weapons if they see protesters engaging in "violent or life-threatening activity.”

[Bull Snipe]

Thanks, was actually be facecious.