“There will never be an ‘Autonomous Zone’ in Washington, D.C., as long as I’m your President. If they try they will be met with serious force!” President Trump wrote on Twitter on June 23.
Trump tweeted his emphatic message in response to the unruly actions of rioters who tried to tear down a statue of Andrew Jackson in Lafayette Square across from the White House and also erected a sign on H Street, painted on a sheet of plywood, reading: “Black House Autonomous Zone.”
“Numerous people arrested in D.C. for the disgraceful vandalism, in Lafayette Park, of the magnificent Statue of Andrew Jackson, in addition to the exterior defacing of St. John’s Church across the street,” Trump continued his tweet. “10 years in prison under the Veteran’s Memorial Preservation Act. Beware!”
The rioters also vandalized St. John’s Church — where the president posed with a Bible earlier this month — with spray paint with the letters BHAZ (Black House Autonomous Zone).
The president continued his stern warnings to those who would vandalize public monuments when he addressed reporters outside the White House on the morning of June 23. He said that administration officials “are looking at long-term jail sentences for these vandals and these hoodlums and these anarchists and agitators,” calling them “bad people” who “don’t love our country.”
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The most infamous of the “autonomous zones,” of course, is the one in Seattle, the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest zone (CHOP) formerly known as the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, (CHAZ). The zone, covering six city blocks, was established on June 8 by Black Lives Matter agitators and Antifa militants who co-opted protests against the killing of George Floyd and alleged police brutality. Following a week of violent protests outside the Seattle Police Department’s (SPD) East Precinct building, the SPD abandoned the precinct and militant agitators moved into the area, erected street barricades, and declared the area “Free Capitol Hill.” Police officers were given orders to keep out of the zone unless responding to a 911 call. Unfortunately, emergency responders were prevented from answering some emergency calls as chaos and anarchy reigned.
Trump responded in a June 11 tweet:
Radical Left Governor @JayInslee and the Mayor of Seattle are being taunted and played at a level that our great Country has never seen before. Take back your city NOW. If you don’t do it, I will. This is not a game. These ugly Anarchists must be stopped IMMEDIATELY. MOVE FAST!
Finally, after shootings took place in CHOP on June 20 and 21, the situation became too much even for Mayor Durkan, who said, “We can still accommodate people who want to protest peacefully. But the impacts on the businesses and residents in the community are now too much…. SPD will be returning to the East Precinct. We will do it peacefully and in the near future.”
It would have been far better for the people of Seattle if city officials had taken the same position back on June 8 that Trump has now taken and declared, “There will never be an ‘Autonomous Zone’ in Seattle.”
Image: whitehouse.gov
Warren Mass has served The New American since its launch in 1985 in several capacities, including marketing, editing, and writing. Since retiring from the staff several years ago, he has been a regular contributor to the magazine. Warren writes from Texas and can be reached at [email protected].
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Journalist Who Entered Seattle’s CHOP: Lawlessness Reigns at Night
Seattle’s “Autonomous Zone” Has Armed Border Patrol & Deportations
Extortion & Armed Guards in Seattle Cop-free Zone, Trump Calls for Order
