The office of Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan (D) said Tuesday that federal agents deployed to the city amid protests over police violence and racial injustice have left the Seattle area. The letter asked whether the DHS and the Justice Department were invoking the Insurrection Act and warned that the federal presence could escalate protests in Seattle as they had in Portland, Ore. The agents arrived ahead of an expected weekend of protests in solidarity with Portland, where federal officers have used crowd-control tools, including tear gas, against protesters outside the federal courthouse. The protesters did not march to any federal buildings, and the department says no federal agents participated in police attempts to disperse the crowd in the Capitol Hill neighborhood. “This demobilization means Washingtonians no longer have to worry about the White House’s aim to provoke confrontation and undermine peaceful protests,” Washington Gov.

Source: Washington Post July 28, 2020 11:52 UTC