Video taken during protests in Seattle appears to show a young girl crying in pain after being maced, which witnesses say came from a police officer.
The video gained viral interest on Saturday amid the growing national protests following the death of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis. The Twin Cities have seen several days of unrest and escalating violence, with protests spreading out to cities across the country.
In Seattle, many protesters took to the streets to call for justice, with some demonstrations growing violent, including some clashes between protesters and police. As Raw Story reported, one video from the protest appeared to show a young girl crying in pain after having been maced. The video showed others helping the girl by pouring milk onto her face and eyes. The condition of the girl was not known.
Some claimed that a police officer was the one responsible for macing the girl, though the video did not show the start of the incident or identify any specific officers.
Other video showed scenes of unrest and chaos across Seattle, including a protester who stole an AR-15 from a police patrol car that had been set on fire. As MyNorthwest reported, a person working security at the protest disarmed the protester who was carrying the rifle.
But as the report added, there was some concern that more weapons may have been stolen during the looting.
“Mayor Jenny Durkan announced during a press briefing that it’s possible a second AR-15 was stolen but has not yet been recovered,” the report noted. “But later in the evening, Kruse tweeted that the security team also confiscated a stolen AR-15 from another rioter and handed it over to police.”
As KING 5 reported, Seattle officials put a mandatory curfew in place amid the violent protests. Protesters damaged property and set a number of police and city transit vehicles on fire. Others were seen breaking into stores and looting. The curfew is set to remain in effect until 5 a.m.
In response, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee activated up to 200 members of the Washington National Guard to help quell the unrest in the city.
Many of the protesters in Seattle said a small number of people turned what had started as a peaceful rally calling for justice into a violent outburst.
“They hijacked our protest… I am furious,” one peaceful protester told KING 5. “It has totally taken away from what we came down here to do.”
