by Eric Lendrum
On Wednesday, the city of Seattle finally reclaimed the last portions of a downtown area that had first been claimed by far-left protesters in an infamous effort to create an “autonomous zone.”
Fox News reports that the city’s Parks and Recreation Department and police department destroyed a so-called “community garden” that had been planted in Cal Anderson Park back in 2020, at the height of the nationwide race riots carried out by anarcho-communist and black nationalist agitators. The city declared that the destruction of the garden was due to concerns for public health and safety, as the site continued to draw undesirable people to the park, including homeless people and drug addicts.
In addition to the garden, the city also eliminated remaining tent encampments that had been near the garden and along the outer edges of the park along East Olive Street. Both the garden and the tent encampments had led to increases in vandalism within the park’s public restrooms, as well as a rise in the park’s rodent population.
The city originally planned to take down the garden back in October, but faced opposition from a far-left group called the Black Star Farmers, which circulated a petition with over 5,000 signatures demanding that the park stay. The group claimed, with no evidence, that the garden was a net positive for the park, saying that it allowed fro the growth of corn and strawberries, among other things.
As the garden was located in the “Sun Bowl” area of the park, the city sought to remove the garden and its unseemly population so that regular people could continue to hold social gatherings in the area. The garden was also located near several electrical and water hookups.
The removal of the garden and tent encampments was carried out by construction vehicles, guarded by park rangers and city police. Bystanders, including supporters of the garden, watched as it was destroyed with no notice ahead of the actual demolition process.
CHAZ, or the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, was first “established” on June 8th, 2020, and lasted until July 1st. During the roughly one-month period, protesters attempted to claim six city blocks in downtown Seattle as their own territory, hijacking public spaces and city utilities as a display of support for the Black Lives Matter movement following the fentanyl overdose death of George Floyd in May of 2020. However, the complete lack of government or enforcement of basic laws led to numerous crimes, including rapes and sexual assaults, robberies and vandalism, and multiple shootings which led to six injuries and two deaths.
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Eric Lendrum reports for American Greatness.
Photo “CHAZ Seattle” by Derek Simeone. CC BY 2.0.
