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Trump fumes as protesters stake out festive zone in Seattle

SEATTLE
(AP) — Following days of violent confrontations with protesters, police
in Seattle have largely withdrawn from part of a neighborhood where
protesters have created a festival-like scene that has President Donald
Trump fuming.

Trump taunted Gov. Jay Inslee and Mayor Jenny
Durkan about the situation on Twitter and said the city had been taken
over by “anarchists.” “Take back your city NOW. If you don’t do it, I
will,” Trump tweeted.

The president continued his complaints in a
Thursday interview with the Fox News Channel. “If we have to go in,
we’re going to go in,” Trump said. “These people are not going to occupy
a major portion of a great city.”

The “Capitol Hill Autonomous
Zone” stretches over a couple city blocks and sprung up after police on
Monday removed barricades near the East Precinct and basically abandoned
the structure after officers used tear gas, pepper spray and flash
bangs over the weekend to disperse demonstrators they said were
assaulting them with projectiles.

The president has sparred before
with Inslee and Durkan — both liberal Democrats. Inslee previously
sought his party’s presidential nomination.

Inslee tweeted
Thursday that state officials will not allow threats of military
violence from the White House. “The U.S. military serves to protect
Americans, not the fragility of an insecure president,” he tweeted.

The
zone set up by protesters stretches a portion of Capitol Hill, where
dozens of people show up to listen to speakers calling for police
reform, racial justice and compensation for Native groups on whose land
the city of Seattle was founded.

Signs proclaim “You are entering
free Capitol Hill” and “No cop co-op” along sidewalks where people sell
water and other wares. On Thursday, speakers used a microphone to
discuss their demands and how to address the police presence after they
visited the precinct during the day. Down the street, artists continued
painting a block-long “Black Lives Matter” mural on the street.

“The
people that you see here have all come together because we see
injustice in our system and we want to be part of the solution,” said
Mark Henry Jr. of Black Lives Matter.

Henry said Trump’s rant
about the gathering was unfounded. “Donald Trump can call us a terrorist
if he likes to, but what you see out here is people coming together and
loving each other,” he said.

Over the weekend, police were
sharply criticized by City Council members and other elected leaders.
Since officers dialed back their tactics, the demonstrations have
largely been peaceful.

Police officials say they are looking to
reopen the precinct. At a news conference Wednesday, Assistant Chief
Deanna Nollette said the barriers were removed from the front of the
building after it became a flashpoint between officers and protesters.

Nollette
said the precinct has been boarded up because of credible threats that
it would be vandalized or burned. She offered no details about the
threats and no fires have been reported at the site.

She said protesters have set up their own barricades, which are intimidating some residents.

Police
Chief Carmen Best posted a video message to officers Thursday in which
she said the decision to leave the Capitol Hill precinct wasn’t hers and
she was angry about it. She also reiterated that police had been
harassed and assaulted during protests.

“Ultimately, the city had other plans for the building and relented to severe public pressure,” Best said.

At a Thursday news conference neither Best nor Durkan made it clear who decided that police should leave the precinct.

Durkan
said regarding Trump’s statements about Seattle that one of the things
the president will never understand is that listening to community is
not a weakness, but a strength.

“A real leader would see
nationwide protest, the grief in so many communities of color,
particularly our black communities, and the call to be an anti-racist
society, as an opportunity for America. An opportunity to build a better
nation,” she said.

Protesters have said they want to see the
precinct turned into a community center or used for purposes other than
law enforcement.

City Councilwoman Kshama Sawant disputed accounts
of violence or intimidation by protesters within the area on Capitol
Hill and said it was more like a street fair with political discussions
and a drum circle.

“The right wing has been spreading rumors that
there is some sort of lawlessness and crime taking place at the Capitol
Hill Autonomous Zone, but it is exactly the opposite of that,” said
Sawant, a socialist and a critic of Durkan and the police.

Sawant said she wants the precinct to be “converted into a public resource that will actually be helpful to society.”

Associated Press writer Lisa Baumann contributed from Seattle.