Seattle City Council meeting disrupted by protesters banging on windows, 6 arrested

 Police say six people were arrested Tuesday after disrupting a city council meeting.

Officers were called to the Seattle City Council Chamber around 2:55 p.m. "As people filled the room and continued to interfere with the session," police said in a news release.

Three men and three women were asked to leave the chamber, but police say they refused and were told they would be arrested if they continued to obstruct. All six were charged with criminal trespass, and one person was also charged with obstruction.

Video of the meeting, which lasted just under two and a half hours, was posted on the city's Seattle Channel website. Two recesses were taken during that period, one of which was taken when the police were called. It was supposed to last 15 minutes but it ended up lasting more than an hour.

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Police say the city council meeting was able to resume after the arrests and many other people left the chamber without any problems, but when council members attempted to continue the meeting, chants and banging on windows were heard. Could be heard.

District 5 Council Member Kathy Moore asked for police assistance, saying, "Our physical safety is being threatened by the actions of the protesters outside banging on the windows, which could easily break and we would have a mob scene." "I feel physically threatened."

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The protesters were referred to as "progressive activists" by local radio reporter Jason Rantz on the social media platform X. He said they were demanding that the city fund housing for refugees, even though "they're not even being housed in Seattle currently."

Many of them used the public comment portion of the meeting to talk about the issue.

"The issues of refugee accommodation and police surveillance are related," said a woman named Lauren. "More money for police surveillance and ineffective and racist technologies like ['SpotHotter'] means less money for asylum seekers and other low-income people who desperately need housing."

Seattle police would not identify the six people arrested following an inquiry by Fox News Digital, citing the public records request process. All six were said to have been booked into the King County Jail.

No injuries or use of force were reported by Seattle police officers.