The City of Seattle has now reportedly decided to settle a lawsuit with business owners and residents over the city’s disastrous handling of the so-called autonomous zone demonstrations, nicknamed the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest (CHOP).
Businesses and residents of Seattle’s Capitol Hill will now finally be reimbursed for the City’s mismanagement of the area, which caused a huge rise in violence and disorder in addition to loss of life.
More than a dozen Capitol Hill business owners and citizens filed a lawsuit against the city citing city policies that effectively approved the CHOP zone as well as the unlawful and destructive behavior of the individuals participating in the lawlessness.
The city announced a $3.65 million settlement, which includes $600,000 in fines for the deletion of thousands of messages by municipal officials, including former Mayor Jenny Durkan.
Protesters swarmed on the region in June 2020, taking over the police department’s east precinct and barring policemen from entering.
The event occurred as protests and rioting erupted throughout the country in response to the shooting of George Floyd in Minneapolis, which prompted increased calls from activists to defund police forces.
The protest camp, known as CHOP or CHAZ — Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone — became a national focus point that summer as fatal gunshots occurred, including the death of a 16-year-old that has yet to be solved.
Rioters in the zone published a list of demands to the city, including a 50% drop in the police budget by 2020, the abolition of jail, and the release of people imprisoned for marijuana-related charges.
The protest zone was finally cleared out by police on July 1, 2020.
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