SEATTLE — Seattle police officers were forced to kick their way out of an East Precinct exit door Monday night, after rioters jammed it with boards and rebar, and attempted to seal the door closed with quick-dry cement.
As the door was being jammed, surveillance video shows several other people building a fire outside the building near the exit door, in an attempt to set the building on fire.
"I think what this shows you is that these people are intent on killing police officers," said Mike Solan, president of the Seattle Police Guild, who called the act '"clear domestic terrorism.'"
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"We're being held hostage by a group of 100 to 150 people that are bent on destroying this city and hurting police officers," Solan said.
Solan said a short time later, the Guild headquarters also became the target of three firebombs. "Our surveillance video captured two individuals scouting our location for several hours," Solan said.
Surveillance video from that location shows one of the firebombs bursting, igniting the building's rear stairway in flames, before officers were able to extinguish the fire.
Solan said officers are dispirited when no- one in city leadership denounces these attacks.
"That's why it's incumbent upon our elected officials to put a stop to this immediately," he said. "How can city leaders be so feckless? It can't just be on the officers. This is an absolute overthrow attempt of some of our government institutions, and police are in the way. They or the officers will get hurt or killed so they can put forth that agenda."
Solan believes the attacks on officers will escalate, but officers must focus on jobs outside of protecting themselves and their buildings from arson attacks.
“They’re not going to bully us into submission,” he said. “They’re not going to bully this community into submission.”
Cox Media Group
