Seattle police will begin to crack down on troublemakers who damage businesses, warned the city’s interim police chief on Saturday.
Chief Adrian Diaz’s promise came days after anti-Biden protesters left the original Pike Place Market Starbucks cafe with broken windows and several downtown business owners feeling abandoned by the city, according to reports.
Like his predecessor, Carmen Best – who left last September, alleging a lack of support for the police from some city officials – Diaz said he did not believe that protesters who break windows and mark companies are promoting a cause.
“On January 20, events in a variety of locations were meaningless. There was no discussion of what they were fighting for, or what kind of social justice message. This cannot happen,” Diaz told reporters at a news conference, according to the Seattle Times.
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He added that the protesters seem more focused on “lighting fires” and “breaking windows”.
“These are things we need to work on,” he added.
Starbucks’ first location was damaged during an anti-Biden protest in Seattle on Wednesday.
(Seattle Police Department)
On Wednesday, leftist militants vandalized several buildings, used smoke tubes and moved objects onto the road to create barriers, officials said. At one point, a group dressed in black lit a large American flag and smashed several windows. The first Starbucks at the famous Pike Place Market also had its windows broken.
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Three protesters were arrested for crimes that included theft, assault and property damage.
“During Wednesday’s events, no matter who’s in the presidential office, it’s really a matter of understanding that people are out there for destruction,” said Diaz, reported Q13 FOX.
Although he said about 600 protesters and protesters have been arrested since the riots started last summer, many of the offenses have not been prosecuted mainly for concern about the spread of the coronavirus, the Times reported.
“I have been talking to the city attorney, Pete Holmes, and he will be processing these cases from now on,” said Diaz. “In fact, he allowed us to have the support of his team, to help and review cases as they occur, so that they can be processed to the fullest extent.”
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However, Holmes, in a statement, said the city attorney’s office was unaware of the new policy and said through a spokesman that the misdemeanor policies would remain the same, the Times reported.
He said the department will follow an especially hard line with vandals arrested more than once.
“When we have no form of accountability for people – and many of them who come from outside the city – they will continue to do this destruction, and we cannot have that,” he said.
Downtown residents and business owners expressed their frustration at the lack of consequences for vandals.
“For me, it is a complete mystery why we are not getting any more answers,” Stephanie Tschida, of the Eastern District Advisory Council, told KOMO-TV.
Diaz’s press conference took place before a planned protest in a nearby park that turned out to be peaceful.
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He said the new policy would take effect on Saturday.
In September, then-chief Carmen Best stepped down after incidents that included a hole being blown up on the wall of a police station by an explosive device.
“What we saw today was not peaceful,” said Best at the time, according to the Seattle Times. “The rioters did not care about the safety of the public, the safety of officers or the businesses and properties they destroyed.”