Seattle police recover knives and spike strips during CHOP cleanup

A number of dangerous weapons including knives, a hatchet, and homemade spike strips have been recovered at the former site of Seattle’s controversial ‘Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone’, two months after it was dismantled. 

The Seattle Parks Department on Tuesday continued its cleanup operation at Cal Anderson Park, which became the center of violent protests and deadly shootings this summer after it was overtaken by demonstrators in June.  

Workers had been repairing a field house and cleaning out a tent in the area this week when they found several weapons left behind by occupants, police said. 

Authorities obtained a search warrant before raiding the tent where they recovered a machete, hatchet, homemade spike strips, an unexploded mortar, and multiple makeshift shields.

‘Officers removed the items from the tent and placed them into evidence. No arrests have been made in this investigation at this time, but the investigation is ongoing,’ officials said in a statement. 

The park, which had been turned into a ‘police-free’ zone, was finally cleared out on July 1 under an executive order issued by Mayor Jenny Durkan following weeks of unrest. 

But despite its closure, protesters continued occupying areas of the park and had set up encampments during the month August, the Capitol Hill Seattle blog reported.

The Parks Department said the facility had been ‘repeatedly vandalized’ throughout the closure and authorities were called in several times last month to remove people who were unlawfully accessing the park.

‘After the repeated refusal of individuals to leave the park, today, the Seattle Police, at the request of the Seattle Parks and Recreation assisted in clearing those trespassing in the City facility,’ the department said. 

‘Parks staff were onsite to address protest supply tents and personal belongings by providing storage, make repairs to the parks facility, and other improvements to further deter break-ins and vandalism.’

The infamous ‘CHOP’ or ‘CHAZ’ had been established on June 8 when protesters occupied several blocks around the park and the Seattle Police Department’s East Precinct after demonstrations calling for an end to police brutality spiraled out of control.

Armed protesters erected barriers and set up encampments as they declared it a police-free zone, leading to weeks of violence, looting, and vandalism. 

Over a three-week period, dozens of people were arrested at the site, two people were shot dead, and crime in the area had risen by more than 500 per cent. 

At least 100 police officers swarmed the zone known as CHOP at about 5am on July 1 and a loud bang was heard followed by a cloud of smoke as cops began clearing the area. 

Officers tore down demonstrators’ tents and used bicycles to herd the protesters.  

They also took down fences that protesters had erected around their tents and used batons to poke inside bushes, apparently looking for people who might be hiding inside.

Most protesters appeared to have dispersed several hours after the operations started and armed officers looked on from rooftops as clean-up crews of workers arrived to break down tables and tarps that protesters had set up in the zone. 

Protester Rick Hearns used his megaphone to tell demonstrators: ‘We’ve made history. Everybody out. We’ll get another place. Don’t taunt the officers.’

Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best said the area had become ‘lawless and brutal.’ 

‘Four shootings, two fatal, robberies, assaults, violence and countless property crimes have occurred in this several block area,’ she said at the time. 

Police also released a video documenting the acts of violence inside CHOP over the last few weeks. 

The move to dismantle the area follows the shooting death of a 16-year-old boy, named as Antonio Mays Jr. A 14-year-old was also critically injured when eyewitnesses say armed security inside the zone fired 300 rounds.     

Lorenzo Anderson, 19, was shot on the protest area on June 20.

There had been increasing calls by critics, including President Trump, to remove protesters from the ‘Capitol Hill Occupied Protest’ area east of downtown.