Seattle police retreated to a precinct early on Sunday, just hours after declaring a riot during large demonstrations in the city’s Capitol Hill neighborhood near where weeks earlier people set up an “occupied protest zone†that stretched for several blocks.
Some demonstrators lingered after officers filed into the department’s East Precinct around 1am, but most cleared out a short time later, according to video posted online.
Authorities said rocks, bottles, fireworks and mortars were thrown at officers as they attempted to clear the area using flash bangs and pepper spray over the course of several hours.
Seattle police Chief Carmen Best called for peace at a late-night news conference, and told reporters she hadn’t seen US agents the Trump administration dispatched to the city at Saturday’s protest.
Via Twitter, police said they arrested at least 45 people for assaults on officers, obstruction and failure to disperse. Twenty-one officers were left with mostly minor injuries.
