Demonstrators calling for change hold rallies across King County Sunday

KING COUNTY, Wash. — On Sunday, demonstrators held peaceful rallies across King County, calling for change.

Rallies were held from Tukwila to downtown Seattle with demonstrators demanding different kinds of change.

In Tukwila, protesters marched for miles down Southcenter Boulevard, calling for police reform. They demanded that the city fund a youth center instead of paying for a new justice center for the Police Department.

As crowds filled Tukwila City Hall, miles away, demonstrators packed downtown Seattle’s streets, marching down Denny Avenue and to Pike Place Market before stopping at Seattle Center.

They called out police brutality as many were still raw about what happened to Jacob Blake from Kenosha, Wisconsin. He is the father who was shot seven times during a traffic stop.

Blake’s aunt, Nicole Blake Chafetz, who lives in western Washington, worries police do not understand what they are doing wrong.

“This happened after George Floyd. I thought they got it then. No, I don’t think they got,” Chafetz said.

It is one reason why she said demonstrations are necessary across Washington, believing it will slowly but surely lead to change.

“I have a certain amount of hopelessness that anything can change, but nothing will change if we don’t keep trying,” Chafetz said.

An area on Capitol Hill where there is usually a lot happening seemed quiet Sunday night, as there were no reports of any problems or damage around Seattle’s East Precinct.

Police have been anticipating problems, which is why cement barriers were placed around the precinct, forming a wall.

Recently, surveillance cameras caught a rioter trying to set the East Precinct on fire as police officers worked inside.

Police said others tried to seal one of the doors shut with quick-drying cement in an attempt to turn the East Precinct into a death trap.

Cox Media Group