SEATTLE _ Protesters appear to have thwarted, at least temporarily, Seattle Department of Transportation's plans to remove concrete barriers that have defined the edges of the Capitol Hill Organized Protest, or CHOP, for several weeks.
Crews arrived early in the morning with trucks and machinery to remove the barriers at 12th Avenue and Pike Street. But at least one protester lay down in the street in front of a piece of equipment, and after a few hours, crews backed away.
Employees were met with "significant resistance by protesters, who grew increasingly agitated and aggressive towards city workers from Seattle Parks and Recreation, Seattle Department of Transportation and Seattle Public Utilities," a city spokesperson said in an emailed statement. "Safety is the City's first priority, and planning is ongoing for how to safely transition the Capitol Hill area."
Mayor Jenny Durkan began a meeting with protesters around 3 p.m. at First African Methodist Episcopal Church on 14th Avenue. Fire chief Harold Scoggins, and Andre Taylor, an activist against police violence whose brother was killed by Seattle police in 2016, were also in the meeting.
Earlier in the afternoon, workers with the city's parks department moved through Bobby Morris Playfield and Cal Anderson Park, picking up trash and asking people in tents if they had anything to discard. Within 10 minutes, a pickup truck's bed was filled with trash bags.
People in the encampment said they were on edge over rumored threats that the city would conduct a sweep of the camp, breaking it up. There's also been a nightly deployment of fireworks. One resident, a man named Owl Medicine, said he believed the city is keeping people sleep-deprived to keep them on edge.
"No one knows what's happening," he said. "There's no communication to CHOP as a unit." He believes Durkan should give the camp's residents a warning before dismantling it "because that's the only way there can be peace and safety."
Scoggins, the fire chief, walked through the protest zone Friday afternoon and met with demonstrators, who questioned him about emergency responses. One man said that one day, he was trying to help a woman in the area who was in mental distress, but medics wouldn't come to the location, which was past the zone's perimeter, to help. He asked the fire chief to explain why.
"I can't explain that," Scoggins said.
He added that Seattle police, and not the fire department, would have been called to respond to such an emergency.
Rick Hearns, who has been in the protest zone for days, said that it didn't matter if the barricades were removed. He said he is more concerned about the East Precinct, and said that if anyone came to remove that area or take back the precinct, the protesters planned to link arms, without weapons.
The mayor's office said the Seattle Police Department had no plans to return to the East Precinct on Friday.
Omari Salisbury, a journalist who has been livestreaming from the protests for weeks, said representatives from SDOT and Durkan's office were talking with protesters around 6 a.m. about which barriers could be moved and said they'd be back in a few hours.
As of 10:30 a.m., the equipment had been moved down 12th Avenue, away from the CHOP perimeter. Protesters who have been staying in tents in front of the East Precinct were eating breakfast and discussing next steps.
Salisbury said the city has been negotiating with protesters over logistics such as portable toilets and trash pickup. It was nothing new for SDOT to be there talking to protesters, but it was new to have someone from the mayor's office present, Salisbury said.
East Pine Street near 12th Avenue was calm. The hot dog stand was open for business and a man was selling shirts with CHOP on them for $10.
Water faucets within CHOP set up by Seattle Public Utilities had either been turned off by Friday morning or were not working.
Friday is also a deadline for the city to document its plan to address CHOP in response to a class-action lawsuit filed this week by a group of Capitol Hill residents and businesses who say they've faced "extensive harm" as a result of the protest.
According to the letter from the group, the city has until the end of Friday to respond before the group files for injunctive relief, the letter said.
The mayor's office said in the emailed statement that city staff is offering social services and a "resource hub" to people sleeping in Cal Anderson and encouraging them to leave.
