Seattle protesters publish list of demands as citizens occupy police-free ‘autonomous zone’

Demonstrators in Seattle who have taken over a six-block radius of the city’s Capitol Hill neighborhood, which they call an “autonomous zone” free of police, have published a list of demands.

“This is no simple request to end police brutality. We demand that the City Council and the Mayor, whoever that may be, implement these policy changes for the cultural and historic advancement of the City of Seattle, and to ease the struggles of its people,” a blog post by a user named “Free Capitol Hill” reads.

The list published includes the following demands:

“1. The Seattle Police Department and attached court system are beyond reform. We do not request reform, we demand abolition.

“2. In the transitionary period between now and the dismantlement of the Seattle Police Department, we demand that the use of armed force be banned entirely.

“3. We demand an end to the school-to-prison pipeline and the abolition of youth jails. Get kids out of prison, get cops out of schools.

“4. We demand that not the City government, nor the State government, but that the Federal government launch a full-scale investigation into past and current cases of police brutality in Seattle and Washington, as well as the re-opening of all closed cases reported to the Office of Police Accountability.”

The post also lists 15 other demands about how the loosely organized group would like government to operate in the city moving forward.

The demonstrators first posted a list of three demands prominently on a wall, according to the New York Times: 1. Defund the police department, 2. Fund community health, and 3. Drop all criminal charges against protesters.

The demonstrations in Seattle began Tuesday night and appear to be a spinoff of widespread peaceful protests that have taken place in the city and dozens of others in the wake of George Floyd’s death.

Police opened the area near Seattle Police’s East Precinct, which had previously been closed, to demonstrators Monday.

President Trump is aware of the situation in Seattle, tweeting Thursday, “Domestic Terrorists have taken over Seattle, run by Radical Left Democrats, of course.”