Border Commish: Portland’s ‘Autonomous Zone’ Created by Criminals, not Protesters

Over the course of the last few weeks, a strange social experiment had been taking place in the Capital Hill district of Seattle, Washington.

First known as the “CHAZ”, short of the “Capital Hill Autonomous Zone”, this six-block area of the Washington capital was abandoned by its police precinct during the tenser moments of protests stemming from the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.  After the protesters were repeatedly mistaken for secessionists, the “CHAZ” become the “CHOP”, or “Capital Hill Occupied Protest”.

These demonstrators put up barriers and blockades, and attempted to present their cooperative efforts as a model for moving forward as an American society.

It took only a few weeks for extreme violence to befall the area, and for Seattle’s Mayor to formally evict the social-justice squatters – a move that came after several people were shot and killed in the area.

Now, just a few hours south in Portland, Oregon, city officials are dealing with yet another “autonomous zone”, but this one may not be governed by protesters at all.

The Portland, Ore., protesters who have created their own ‘autonomous zone’ by pitching tents and rebuilding barricades are “criminals,” acting Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Mark Morgan said on Thursday.

“These are individuals that are planning, organizing with premeditation to destroy federal property and harm federal officers and agents,” Morgan told “Fox & Friends.”

Morgan noted that the Portland protesters are coming in with rocks, hammers and nails in plywood to intentionally cause harm.

“Those are criminals, those are not protesters,” Morgan said.

If it only took a few weeks for a protester-organized commune to deteriorate into debauchery, one can only imagine that a criminally-birthed version would also be ripe for trouble, and perhaps in a hurry.