OPINION:
Seattle Democrats, on the heels of gunshots that left one dead and two wounded in the police-free zone established by Capitol Hill Organized Protest anarchists, have finally decided to act and take back the streets.
And yet, they won’t do it by force.
“It’s time for people to go home,” Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan said, CNN reported.
But they won’t be removed by force, she made clear.
What kind of delusional world occupies this mayor’s mind?
Here’s the situation: Police were booted from the zone. The police department by the zone was defaced and taken over. Armed “protesters” set up barricades and patrolled the boundaries of the zone to keep out police and other undesirables. Reports of rape have been made. Reports of arson have been made. Reports of property destruction have been made.
And most recently: Reports of gunfire have been made — resulting in the death of one and injury to two.
And Durkan says she’s going to chit-chat up a peaceful plan to disband this band of merry mayhem-makers and send them packing?
“Though a deadline is not clear, Durkan said … that officers will be returning to the precinct to respond to more than 100,000 emergency calls,” CNN wrote.
A deadline is not clear.
A dead body, a couple of gunshot victims. But a deadline is not clear.
“We can still accommodate people who want to protest peacefully,” Durkan said. “But the impact on the businesses and residents in the community are now too much.”
There’s an understatement.
Gunfire in the streets and dead and wounded bodies laying about always have an “impact” on a shop’s ability to conduct sales — never mind a resident’s ability to walk to the shops.
But seriously, if gunfire and death don’t prompt Durkan to take immediate action to shut down the CHOP area, send police in mass to send the people packing, and to order a wide and far-reaching investigation of all the criminal activity that’s taken place in the zone since it’s creation — well then, what will?
Who does Durkan think does the voting in Seattle, anyway — CHOP warlords and Antifa members?
Seattle’s police free zone is a stark warning to law and order America about the rising willingness of thugs to bring their thuggery into the open — into the daylight, for all to see.
But Durkan’s failed response is another matter.
Durkan’s failure to uphold law and order in favor of bending to the will of the lawless and law-breakers — in favor of fawning over them, in fact — is a dangerous sign of where Democrats will lead.
Democrats, if allowed, will take America down a dark path of utter chaos. And they’ll do it while insisting they’re being moral and tolerant and righteous.
Seattle never should have happened. The CHOP zone never should have been; the booting of police never should have gone forth; and most certainly, the gun-tied death and injuries ought never have taken place. But they did.
They did, because Democratic leaders failed to take action.
And now Durkan is trying to fix all that by straddling political lines.
Just as her coddling of anarchists threw Seattle’s streets into turmoil, Durkan’s wishy-washy call for the anarchists to go home will result in more chaos. Anarchists, by definition, aren’t peaceful protesters. Durkan’s attempt to treat them as such will only exacerbate the Seattle situation and stoke even more the fires of resistance.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter by clicking HERE.
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