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Seattle police will begin cracking down on rioters damaging businesses, the city’s acting police chief warned on Saturday.
Chief Adrian Diaz’s engagement came days after anti-Biden rioters left Pike Place Market’s original Starbucks cafe with its windows smashed and many downtown business owners feeling abandoned by the city, according to reports.
Like his predecessor, Carmen Best – who left last September, claiming the lack of police support from some city officials – Diaz said he didn’t believe the rioters breaking up windows and tag companies promote a cause.
“On January 20, the events in various places were meaningless. There was no discussion of what they were fighting for or the type of social justice message. It cannot happen,” Diaz told reporters at a press conference, according to the Seattle Times.
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He added that the rioters seemed more focused on “starting 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, left-wing activists vandalized numerous buildings, used smoke cans and moved objects on the roadway to create barriers, authorities said. At one point, a group dressed in black set a large American flag on fire and smashed several windows. The first Starbucks in the famous Pike Place Market also had its windows smashed.
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Three rioters were arrested for crimes including burglary, assault and property damage.
“During the events of Wednesday, it doesn’t matter who is in the presidential office, it’s really a matter of understanding that people are just there for destruction,” Diaz said, Q13 FOX reported.
While he said around 600 protesters and rioters have been arrested since the unrest began last summer, many crimes have not been prosecuted primarily for fear of the spread of the coronavirus, the Times reported.
“I had a conversation with the city attorney’s office, Pete Holmes, and he will be pursuing these cases, from now on,” Diaz said. “He has actually enabled us to have the support of his staff, to help and review these cases as they arise, so that they can be prosecuted 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 spokesperson that the misdemeanor policies would remain the same, reported The Times.
He said the department would take a particularly hard line with vandals arrested more than once.
“When we don’t have any kind of responsibility for the people – and a lot of them who come from out of town – they’ll keep doing this destruction, and we can’t have that,” he said. .
Downtown residents and business owners had expressed frustration at the lack of consequences for the vandals.
“To me, it’s a complete mystery why we don’t have more answers,” Stephanie Tschida, of the City East Advisory Council, told KOMO-TV.
Diaz’s press conference came ahead of a planned protest at a nearby park that ended up being peaceful.
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He said the new policy would take effect on Saturday.
In September, then-chief Carmen Best resigned following incidents that included a hole blown into a wall of a police station by an explosive device.
“What we saw today was not peaceful,” Best said at the time, according to the Seattle Times. “The rioters had no respect for the safety of the public, for the safety of the officers or for the businesses and property they destroyed.”
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