Seattle activists just can’t settle on a name for their cop-free protest pace.
Once known as the “Capital Hill Autonomous Zone,” or CHAZ, the protesters behind the festival-like takeover of a six-block radius around an emptied-out police precinct in the neighborhood are now pushing a new acronym for the space: “CHOP,” or Capitol Hill Organized Protest.
One protester, Maurice Cola, told reporters in a widely circulated Twitter video that the change was to better reflect the organizers’ message.
“This is not an autonomous zone. We are not trying to secede from the United States,” Cola said.
But protesters there can’t agree on what the “O” stands for, with some pushing the moniker “Capitol Hill Occupied Protest” and others using “Capitol Hill Organized Protest.”
Cola said demonstrators using “Occupied” were confused.
“People are not understanding they’re seeing the acronym and they’re just jumping the gun,” he went on
Cola told the local ABC affiliate that the core mission of defunding the police has been lost amid a swell of visitors to the protest space.
“We’re noticing a lot of tourists coming in and some of the narratives are getting lost with all the extra added energy,” said Cola. “We’re trying to keep the focus. This is not Coachella.”
Protesters first claimed the space nearly a week ago after storming a now-abandoned police precinct within it during unrest over the police killing of George Floyd. Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkin pulled cops out of the building and the area in an attempt to de-escalate the mobs of protesters and offer a space for discourse.
President Donald Trump has for days pressured Seattle authorities to break up the area, calling the demonstrators “domestic terrorists” and “anarchists.”
While the demonstrations in the area have remained peaceful, local police chief Carmen Best has complained that the cordoned-off area has slowed police response times in the city and said Friday that she’s hoping to get back into the precinct “as soon as possible.”
Trump on Sunday tried to frame Democrats as hypocrites for allowing for the protests to carry on after calling for lockdown around the coronavirus.
“Interesting how ANTIFA and other Far Left militant groups can take over a city without barely a wimpier from soft Do Nothing Democrat leadership, yet these same weak leaders become RADICAL when it comes to shutting down a state or city and its hard working, tax paying citizens!” he tweeted.