A violent mob of Antifa rioters gathered in Seattle late on the evening of Wednesday, July 22, to once again wreak havoc upon the city. Footage taken during the event showed rioters breaking into private businesses and setting cars on fire in a burst of renewed rioting fervor.
According to the Seattle Police Department (SPD), around 150 Antifa rioters roamed around Capitol Hill that night, breaking windows, looting local businesses, shooting off fireworks and starting large fires using stolen property.
The organizers of the engineered rioting said they sent out a “call for direct action” against the SPD, the federal government and their financial backers in the city. They started gathering at around 9 p.m. at Cal Anderson Park at the southern end of Capitol Hill, and from there they marched out into the neighborhood. Police reports state that the group was armed with an assortment of weapons, such as baseball bats and pipes, which they used to break store windows.
Businesses in Capitol Hill looted and vandalized by violent mob
Some of the early victims of Antifa’s night of chaos included a Starbucks and an Uncle Ike’s that was still under construction in the southwestern part of Capitol Hill. Police reports stated that the rioters launched fireworks at the Uncle Ike's, which started a small fire outside the establishment. A different rioter also spray-painted “Gentrifier” on the front of the store.
A different Uncle Ike’s, this one at the Mann neighborhood to the southeast of Capitol Hill, was also vandalized earlier this month.
Starbucks stores in Seattle are also popular targets for Antifa and the Black Lives Matter movement due to the corporation’s support for the Seattle Police Foundation, a charity that helps the SPD provide aid to the community.
The Blue Dot showroom, the Neko Cat Cafe and the Plant Shop Seattle at E. Pine Street, all in the southwestern portion of the Capitol Hill neighborhood, were also attacked. They suffered damage after a violent mob of around 100 people marched through the street from Cal Anderson Park. The Plant Shop had a broken window, while the cat cafe’s exteriors were spray painted.
As the mob continued marching, videos taken from that night showed a group of rioters stopping at Rove Vintage, a clothing store. Here, they began ripping off the pieces of plywood that were put up to protect the private establishment. They then broke into the store and dragged all of the store’s merchandise, mostly clothes, onto the street and set it all on fire.
Reports state that the arsonists targeted Rove Vintage because it was owned by Rachel McNew, the wife of Steven McNew, an SPD officer who, in 2017, was implicated in the death of a Black woman.
Other establishments attacked during that evening include Likelihood Seattle, a shoe store, Whole Foods and Chase Bank. The owner of the shoe store said they reached out to police officers for aid, but was told that nothing could be done.
The mob ended the evening’s violence by returning to Cal Anderson Park. From there, they dispersed. The organizers of that evening’s riot said that they wished to continue committing criminal acts across the city and have already begun planning future demonstrations at Capitol Hill. They also plan to expand their actions to downtown Seattle over the weekend.
No arrests were made, but evidence was gathered for future arrests
SPD officers were following the violent mob but did not directly intervene while they were committing their criminal acts. They were instead collecting evidence at crime and fire scenes. (Related: Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan proposes SLASHING the Seattle Police Department’s budget by $20 million – tells police to expect deeper cuts in the future.)
The SPD said that no arrests were made during the evening. However future arrests should be expected since the SPD spent the whole night gathering evidence of the mob’s criminal actions instead of directly intervening while they were destroying private property. No significant injuries were reported that evening. However, many local residents were very troubled by the destruction.
“I think it is very, very sad,” said Maryann Palmer, a local resident. “I definitely do not feel safe, and I feel like we have violent people coming in and destroying my beautiful neighborhood.”
“[The upcoming riot] this weekend might be more of the same, so it is a very unfortunate predicament that we are in,” said Mike Solan, president of the Seattle Police Officers Guild.
“If [the violence] continues, I am not quite sure how much more we can take because we are not punching bags,” Solan continued. “We didn’t sign up for this job to get hurt and maimed on a continued basis.”
Stay updated on the upcoming weekend of violence in Seattle as well as in other cities like Portland and Chicago by reading the articles at Rioting.news.
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