Seattle CHOP leaders urge protesters to go home, throw support behind Biden, Democrats

Ns News Online Desk:Community leaders and an activist whose brother was killed by Seattle police in 2016 are urging protesters occupying the Capitol Hill Organized Protest, or CHOP, to leave by Wednesday night.

In a statement addressed to “comrades in the struggle” posted on social media Wednesday, CHOP organizers declared, “It is time we shift to the next phase of our organizing and move from direct action to virtual activism.”

“The CHOP project is now concluded,” the lengthy message said. “While we expect a very small handful of holdouts may try to remain in the CHOP no further organizing will be occurring to support this presence and the number on-site will be too small to be more than an annoyance for pedestrians rather than a zonal blockade.”“We have been briefed that full rehousing of the SPD East Precinct staff into the station will occur no later than early next week and will be preceded by the removal of barriers and the reopening of streets to traffic,” the statement said.

The statement then urged supporters to vote for presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and to reelect Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan, both Democrats.

Andre Taylor, who founded the organization Not This Time, which aims to reduce police violence, said Tuesday that the four recent shootings in the area protesters initially called the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, or CHAZ, distract from important messages about racial injustice. His brother, Che Taylor, was fatally shot by Seattle police in February 2016.