Protesters trash Amazon store in Seattle, as ‘well-organized’ group attacks businesses & police precincts (VIDEOS)

20 Jul, 2020 04:20 / Updated 4 years ago

Footage has shown protesters in Seattle smashing windows at an Amazon Go store and covering it with graffiti. The shop was one of many businesses vandalized on Sunday as an anti-ICE rally turned into riots and clashes with police.

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The video, filmed by conservative activist Katie Daviscourt, shows a group of people attempting to break into the Amazon Go store in downtown Seattle. Masked protesters ram the storefront with different objects and vandalize it with graffiti.

One of the rioters can be seen spray painting “Raze Amazon” on the outer wall of the building.

The short clip cuts off abruptly after a protester confronts Daviscourt, shouting at her to put her phone down.

Amazon was not the only store that has been damaged in the wave of violent attacks on businesses and police that swept the city shortly after an initially peaceful protest against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency descended into clashes with law enforcement.

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Seattle police said that some three hours after the original demonstration ended, a group of people “carrying baseball bats” went on a spree of attacks, damaging businesses, a federal courthouse and two police precincts.

The group appeared to be “well-organized,” as it was engaged in “a joint effort to target specific businesses and government buildings," a police spokesperson said.

Rioters have also ransacked Starbucks, with photos on social media showing damage to yet another coffee shop.

After taking their anger out on private property, the protesters continued marching towards the West Precinct, where they lit fireworks and threw them at officers “from a very close range,” the police spokesperson said, noting that the type of projectiles with which activists attacked police could have been lethal.

The devices that they threw can blind, maim and kill people when thrown from this short of a distance

The altercation resulted in 12 officers being injured, including one who had to be hospitalized after suffering a wound to his neck, she said.

While police used crowd-control munitions such as glass balls and pepper spray in a bid to deter protesters from further violence, the rioters did not stop at that and headed to the East Precinct which they tried to set up on fire by throwing an object resembling a firecracker inside.

The blaze was promptly extinguished, resulting in no injuries to personnel.

In the wake of the incidents, two people have been arrested so far, one for theft or attempted theft and another one for assault.

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