In the days since abandoning their East Precinct, The Seattle Police Department has been engaged in a disinformation campaign aimed at delegitimizing protesters, fomenting violence, and repairing their murderous public image.
Here are the details...
Here are the details...
First, the narrative they put forth as they were moving out... For days, they claimed there was a "credible threat" the building would be burned down. They used it to justify widespread violence and gassing, and ultimately framed moving out as giving in to this "credible threat".
Of course it was nonsense. The community showed within minutes that, not only did they not intend to burn the building down, they planned to repurpose it as a community resource, and a platform from which the movement could be educated and communicate with one another.
Later that night, Seattle Police officers used public police scanner frequencies to make it appear as if 30 armed white-supremacists were moving towards the East Precinct, intent on starting violence with the protesters. This went on for hours, clearly intended to cause chaos.
Ask yourself...How does perpetrating a threatening hoax on protesters serve the public? How does it make our city safer? Why are city employees using our resources in an attempt to foment violence, chaos, and anxiety about gun-toting racists? It is unconscionable.
Their attempts to court violence were unsuccessful, of course. The protesters held their ground, protected one another, and ultimately it ended up galvanizing the community even further. The next night, without police to defend against, the camp watched a documentary together.
In a press conference this morning, presumably to counter the peaceful pictures from the night before, Seattle Police claimed, without evidence, that protesters had fortified CHAZ and were conducting "citizen checkpoints". This is nonsense, verified by countless visitors today.
They claimed they had "credible" reports of businesses being extorted for money while in the Autonomous Zone. Also nonsense, confirmed by several businesses, many of who said they were happy to have protesters in their community. But that didn't stop the story spreading.
Virtually every local news network repeated SPD's false claims, verbatim. Conservative talk radio parroted the talking points. This was deliberate, this was planned, and this is just the most recent in a long history of the Seattle Police Department acting in bad faith.
For what? Why is our police force using our resources to knowingly spread disinformation and propaganda against nonviolent protesters? Why are they using scanner frequencies to concoct stories of impending racist violence? These are tactics used in war. Who are they at war with?
The answer is simple: the people of this city. Every single one of us. Not just the protesters, but every single person who reads the news, who votes, who engages their friends and neighbors in dialog, and who are being fed deliberate lies to slander a group young protesters.
This is beyond despicable, and it speaks directly to the heart of this movement. The Seattle Police are not a part of this community, they are a separate entity which has violently pitted itself against the people they're sworn to protect. They must be abolished.
Here are the audio recordings from the scanner that night:
