Far-left activists storm Seattle City Council meeting, demand more money for illegal aliens: 'I physically feel threatened'

A city council meeting in Seattle became so unruly with far-left activists that councilmembers had to take several recesses and a handful of people wound up in handcuffs.

On Tuesday, hundreds of activists, many of them wearing face masks, marched outside Seattle City Hall and flooded the chamber inside, demanding that local leaders allocate more resources toward immigrant housing rather than fund "racist" police equipment. The protestors included members of far-left groups such as Stop the Sweeps Seattle and Comunidad Sin Fronteras.

"We need housing now!" they chanted in unison before one ringleader, believed to be Rosario Lopez Hernandez, rattled off a speech in Spanish to rile up the crowd.

As the council attempted to conduct business — such as honoring Washington's first black state senator — activists continued to disrupt the proceedings, shouting loudly and banging on the windows with such force that some feared they might break.

"It is a physical threat to the safety of each of us on this council. And it is a physical, it is a threat to the operation of our civic institution. And I want the record to be clear that I physically feel threatened," said Councilmember Cathy Moore. "... We are shutting down the work of our democracy because of a mob action, and it is not to be tolerated."

Just before 3 p.m., Seattle police received a call about the disturbance. Though they warned demonstrators to leave or face arrest, several apparently refused, and officers then arrested six individuals.

Five of the six arrestees, including Ms. Hernandez, were charged with criminal trespass and booked into custody. They were then subsequently bailed out by the Northwest Community Bail Fund, a notoriously anti-police fund dedicated to assisting "non-white and non-cisgender people." The other arrestee was reportedly released before charges were filed.

Jonathan Choe of Discovery Institute reported that none of the arrestees are "migrants." However, Hernandez seemed to indicate during her speech that she is "undocumented." "There's not a special card that says, 'You are undocumented, Rosario. You don't get to pay taxes,'" she yelled in the council chamber.

Following the incident, the city council released a statement, reiterating that immigrants were not to blame for the ruckus. "To be clear – that disturbance was caused by a group of protesters and not refugees, who the City of Seattle has been working with to provide shelter," the statement read in part (emphasis not added).

The office of Democratic Mayor Bruce Harrell told Choe that the city "will pay for a temporary stay of three additional weeks ... at a hotel in response to the homeless migrants that requested assistance in Seattle."

King County has already spent $3 million to house 350 illegal immigrants through June and has offered an additional million for immigrant-related costs, though officials want to consult with a nonprofit to determine the best way to spend it. Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee has likewise proposed budgeting an additional $5 million for the Office of Refugee and Immigrant Assistance and $3 million in grants earmarked for counties to spend on immigrant services.

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