SEATTLE — Seattle transportation crews used heavy equipment Tuesday to remove some makeshift barriers around the city’s “occupied” protest zone following two fatal shootings in the area.
Demonstrators, however, dragged couches and other items to replace the structures. People have occupied several blocks around a park and the Seattle Police Department’s East Precinct for about two weeks after police abandoned the building following standoffs and clashes with protesters calling for racial justice and an end to police brutality.
Seattle police Assistant Chief Adrian Diaz said the large, makeshift barriers would be removed in incremental steps to allow traffic to move through portions of a road that had been closed off.
“So far, you know, everything is peaceful this morning so that’s a good sign,” Diaz told The Seattle Times.