Miranda Devine: Chaos reigns in lawless US cities gripped by Black Lives Matter protests
Shootings, paramedics attacked, illegal fireworks and massive crime spikes — Seattle and New York are evidence of what happens when impotent mayors refuse to crack down on lawless protests, writes Miranda Devine.
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The wave of violence in American cities that has erupted as a result of anti police protests is remarkable for the utter impotence of those who are supposed to be in charge.
So much for the “summer of love” boasted of by Seattle’s woke mayor Jenny Durkan in her city’s no-cop “autonomous zone” – the six blocks of downtown seized by Black Lives Matter activists and various other gun toting radicals on the pretext of protesting the death of a black man at the hands of police in Minneapolis last month.
Over the weekend one person was killed and two were injured as gunbattles raged in the zone, CHAZ or CHOP, or whatever they call it these days.
In one video uploaded on social media, police with riot shields attempted to enter the no-cop zone to rescue the wounded before being forced to retreat by abusive unhinged protesters.
Another video showed ambulance medics waiting outside the zone for a police escort also being abused by protesters for not walking straight in.
Coddled American anarchists like to call 911 for help when they’re in trouble but still abuse those who come to their rescue.
The governor of Washington is ignoring the problem, and mayor Durkan finally has announced she will try to “phase down night-time activity” in the area but won’t be using the police. Good luck with that.
President Donald Trump does nothing other than tweet angrily about “LAW AND ORDER!!!”
Across the country, as police are rendered impotent by left wing Democratic mayors or resign or stay away from work with the “blue flu”, America is getting a taste of life without cops.
In New York, crime is spiralling as the mighty NYPD continue to be attacked and abused by violent left-wing activists and hung out to dry by their political masters. Murders in the city are up by 79 per cent, and there have been 125 shooting incidents in the first three weeks of this month, alone, which takes us back to the bad old days of the 1990s.
Illegal fireworks drive people mad all night every night, another sign of disorder, like the public urination and open marijuana use which has become ubiquitous under the incompetent left-wing mayor Bill DeBlasio.
Iconic monuments and statues are being pulled down and defaced by angry mobs, including statues of America’s first president George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, the president who ended slavery.
In New York, the iconic statue of Christopher Columbus opposite Central Park on the upper west side at Columbus Circle which has stood unmolested since 1892 is under threat and under guard. Now DeBlasio has assigned his radical leftist wife to decided whether it should be ripped down.
There’s no rhyme or reason to the vandalism and no grown-ups willing to stop it.
Until someone steps in to preserve the peace and prevent violence, America is in peril.
Miranda Devine is in New York for 18 months to cover current affairs for The Daily Telegraph.