What I saw differs from report on Seattle’s 2020 protest

I’m responding to the article, “Review slams Seattle police response to 2020 protest zone.” To use the modern riff of a fact checker I will put the article in the category of, “mostly false.” The article has the premise of: police equals bad, protesters equal good. It’s easy with 20-20 hindsight to find ways the police could have done it better. I don’t believe the authors of the article were there at the time.

On June 16, 2020 I rode my bicycle from Snohomish to the “Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone,” because as a concerned citizen, I wanted to see it for myself. Like a random tourist I rode my bike around Cal Anderson Park and shot a few pictures at whim. The “review” claimed that it was an “unsubstantiated or false claim” that “protesters were stopping citizens at armed checkpoints.”

I shot seven pictures. But at one photo opportunity I was stopped by a man. He said I could not take a picture there. I do not know if he was armed, but violence was implied. Who put him in charge? Was he acting on his own? What did he not want me to see? I can’t answer any of those questions. But I concluded that the CHAZ had a rudimentary form of government with rules and security, and the willingness to resort to violence to enforce the rules if necessary. I could be wrong, but I was there.

John Hyman

Snohomish

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