Those who refuse to embrace their movement could face a violent end, a group of protesters in Seattle have declared. The unsettling warning comes after their encampment in the city was renamed to CHOP.
A group of demonstrators who gathered outside Seattle’s West Precinct on Sunday night had a chilling message for anyone who hasn’t pledged fealty to their radical demands, which include the abolition of the city’s police department and a complete transformation of the criminal justice system.
One demonstrator with a megaphone explained a possible secondary meaning behind the decision to rebrand their camp, the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ), to ‘CHOP’ (‘Capitol Hill Organized Protest’ or ‘Capitol Hill Occupied Protest’, depending on who you ask).
“Does anybody know what happened to the people who did not get on board with the French Revolution?” he shouted. “Chopped,” his compatriots yelled in reply.
The proclamation was met with considerable skepticism – and mockery – on social media.