CHAZ Archives - The Virginia Star

Seattle Shuts Down Last Remnants of CHAZ Protest Area

January 1, 2024 Virginia Star Staff

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.

Victor Davis Hanson Commentary: If You Thought 2020 Was Hard, Wait Until You Get a Load of 2021

January 12, 2021January 11, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

The proper conservative response to last Wednesday’s violent entry into the Capitol and vandalism, as well as assaults on law-enforcement, is to identify the guilty parties and ensure they are arrested.

Such deterrence will prevent any future devolution from legal popular protests into thuggery. No constitutional republic can tolerate its iconic heart stormed, breached, and defiled.

Firsthand: I Watched Seattle’s Descent Into Hell

July 20, 2020July 19, 2020 Virginia Star Staff

It’s Saturday, May 30, 2020, and thousands of protesters glut the Seattle streets. By mid-afternoon the mob grows to more than 10,000 Black Lives Matter activists, Antifa thugs, and anarchist shock troops. What starts as largely peaceful demonstrations descends rapidly into largely violent and destructive riots.

“No justice, no peace,” they holler, as they hurl Molotov cocktails at police cars, bash in store front windows, and loot jewelry, fashion clothing, and cheesecake — yes, cheesecake. The popular Cheesecake Factory was not spared.

Commentary: When Tyranny Through Bureaucracy Takes Root the Growth of Violence Follows

July 5, 2020July 4, 2020 Virginia Star Staff

by Annie Holmquist It’s funny how peaceful all this recent protesting for change has been. In fact, it’s so peaceful that average Americans, trying to go about their lives as normally as possible, are simply surrounded by love and feelings of euphoria. I speak tongue-in-cheek, of course, for the…

Seattle Police Dismantle ‘Occupied’ Zone, Arrest More Than 30

July 2, 2020July 1, 2020 The Associated Press

Seattle police turned out in force early Wednesday at the city’s “occupied” protest zone, tore down demonstrators’ encampments and used bicycles to herd the protesters after the mayor ordered the area cleared following two fatal shootings in less than two weeks.

Television images showed police, many in riot gear, confronting dozens of protesters at the “Capitol Hill Occupied Protest” zone that was set up near downtown following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

‘Enough Is Enough’: Seattle Police Chief Rips CHAZ, Gets Heckled at Press Conference

July 1, 2020June 30, 2020 Virginia Star Staff

Seattle’s police chief was heckled while she ripped the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ) following fourth shooting in the area at a press conference Monday.

Chief Carmen Best demanded that people still in the area, also known as the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest (CHOP), leave immediately for the sake of everyone’s safety. A 16-year-old died and a 14-year-old is still being treated following a drive-by shooting that took place early Monday morning in the zone, Seattle police said in a press release Monday.

Commentary: Remember, the Left Will Do Anything to Distract Us from a Choice in 2020

June 29, 2020 Virginia Star Staff

In Washington, D.C.’s Lafayette Square during the Left’s latest attempt to create “Year Zero” by erasing American history, the less-than-peaceful protestors endeavored to create a “Black House Autonomous Zone” (BHAZ). As is their destructive wont, they defaced St. John’s Episcopal Church and a statue of President Andrew Jackson. Before they could topple the statue of Jackson, however, D.C. police intervened and, using pepper spray and other tactics, pushed the crowd back.

The statue is safe for now; and some protestors should become quickly acquainted with the Veterans Memorial Preservation and Recognition Act which, as Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) was kind enough to remind these “criminal masterminds,” carries a 10-year sentence for destroying a statue of a veteran on federal property. In his own tweet, President Donald Trump also cited this federal law and urged the vandals to “Beware!”

Seattle Mayor Meets with Protesters Over Dismantling Zone

June 28, 2020June 27, 2020 The Associated Press

SEATTLE, Washington (AP) — Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan met with demonstrators Friday after some lay in the street or sat on barricades to thwart the city’s effort to dismantle an “occupied” protest zone that has drawn scorn from President Donald Trump and a lawsuit from nearby businesses.

Crews arrived with heavy equipment early Friday morning at the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest, an occupied protest zone in Seattle, ready to dismantle barriers set up after protesters seized the area June 8 following clashes with police. But by mid-morning, they appeared to have backed off rather than risk conflict.

Commentary: Today’s Cultural Revolution Will Not Stop at Elections, They Want Your Minds

June 24, 2020June 23, 2020 Virginia Star Staff

The cultural revolutionaries who have begun marching in the wake of the murder of George Floyd by former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin have opened a widespread assault on history itself, toppling statues across the country including those of Confederate generals like Albert Pike in Washington, D.C. but also Union generals, too, like Ulysses S. Grant in San Francisco, who won the Civil War to abolish slavery and later went on to become President.

The vandals have even begun targeting religious symbols, with some calls to go after statues of Jesus, who was Jewish, as somehow being a symbol of white supremacy.

A 3rd Shooting Reported in Seattle’s CHAZ as Mayor Moves to End the Police-Free Zone

June 24, 2020June 23, 2020 Virginia Star Staff

Seattle Police Tuesday morning reported the third shooting in Seattle’s Capitol Hill “autonomous zone” since Saturday. In all, four people have been shot in CHAZ, including one victim who died.

The shooting was reported just before 5:00 a.m. just outside of Cal Anderson Park on the edge of the zone, also known as the Capitol Hill Organized Protest (CHOP).

No More ‘Summer of Love:’ Seattle Mayor Will Move to Dismantle CHOP/CHAZ Protest Zone

June 23, 2020June 23, 2020 The Associated Press

Faced with growing pressure to crack down on an “occupied” protest zone following two weekend shootings, Seattle’s mayor said Monday that officials will move to wind down the blocks-long span of city streets taken over two weeks ago that President Donald Trump asserted is run by “anarchists.”

Mayor Jenny Durkan said at a news conference that the violence was distracting from changes sought by thousands of peaceful protesters seeking to address racial inequity and police brutality. She said the city is working with the community to bring the “Capitol Hill Occupied Protest” zone to an end.

The Tennessee Star’s Neil McCabe Interviewed by Politico for Story on Nation’s Division

June 21, 2020June 20, 2020 Anthony Gockowski

Neil McCabe, the national correspondent for The Tennessee Star and Star News network, was interviewed by Politico last week for a front-page story on the nation’s division.

The article focused on Seattle’s Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, called CHAZ for short, which Politico described as a “microcosm of the culture wars.” The CHAZ was established by protesters earlier this month after law enforcement officers withdrew from the scene.

Commentary: The CHAZ Stands Alone

June 20, 2020June 19, 2020 Virginia Star Staff

One of the more amusing spectacles of the recent protests has been the establishment of the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ)—now called the Capitol Hill Organized Protest (CHOP)—in the middle of downtown Seattle, Washington. Conservatives on social media have had a field day making light of the pint-sized experiment in neo-Marxist utopia. Contained within these few square blocks, however, is a microcosm of all the lies and failures of Marxist regimes since the Bolsheviks came to power, and we should pay attention while they are still merely amusing.

Commentary: Anarchy, Seattle, and All That CHAZ

June 16, 2020June 15, 2020 Virginia Star Staff

Three cities, all supremely liberal, represent an American descent into anarchy against which no one is standing.

After New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said he wanted to slash the police budget, the New York City Council is going about cutting $1 billion from that budget, about 16%. That will inevitably cause a reduction of police presence around the city and, with equal inevitability, result in an increase in crime.