Protests erupted in multiple cities nationwide over the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer. Seattle protests began first began last night. After several hours of peaceful demonstrations this morning, protests in downtown Seattle severely escalated.

Auburn police Commander Mike Hirman confirmed the department’s Civil Disturbance Unit, with other Valley cities, was deployed to Seattle in response to a request for aid from Seattle Police.

V.A.L.L.E.Y. SWAT is currently staging for possible deployment.

Fire Response

King County Fire & EMS first responders have been deploying throughout the evening in response to the request for assistance from the Seattle Fire Department.

King County Medic One, Tukwila Fire Department, Renton Regional Fire Authority, and Puget Sound Fire have sent units to Seattle. A Pierce County strike team has also deployed.

At this time, the Valley Regional Fire Authority is not responding to Seattle. This is subject to change based on need.

Seattle Fire Chief Harold Scoggins issued a statement addressing the response to downtown protests. His statement supported protesters, but urged for the destruction to end. “As I said yesterday before the demonstrations began, I support exercising the right to free speech and peaceful demonstrations, and the need to stand up for what is right. But this is not the way to do it, by causing unnecessary chaos and danger.”

Scoggins so explained the reason for any delayed response from first responders, “you may have seen us waiting to respond in to fight vehicle fires. I have a duty to keep my firefighters safe, and we are waiting until its safe to enter to extinguish fires, to avoid unnecessary harm.

“Additionally, when you block streets, you are blocking EMS emergency vehicles from being able to respond to hospitals for patient care.”

Governor Jay Inslee has activated the Washington National Guard, deploying 200 members to Seattle at the city’s request.

The Auburn Examiner is monitoring local, regional, and national events and will update on any events we feel pertinent. Any updates will be contained within this post.

Updates:

8:56PM: The Valley Cities CDU has been released from the Seattle protests.

In contrast to the events in Seattle, a peaceful demonstration was held in Tacoma this evening.

All south King County and Pierce fire and EMS units have returned to their home agencies without incident.

A demonstration has been announced for tomorrow, Sunday May 31, in Federal Way at 1PM. Organizers are heavily stressing this will be a peaceful demonstration.