Seattle mayor to meet with George Floyd protesters

SEATTLE (AP) — Large crowds of people again marched through Seattle to protest the killing of George Floyd and demonstrations were largely peaceful until late in the night and early Wednesday, when authorities used tear gas and flash-bang grenades to disperse a crowd near a police precinct.

Authorities said some people in the city’s Capitol Hill neighborhood began throwing objects at officers.

Earlier Tuesday Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan addressed hundreds of demonstrators and encouraged them to keep marching so long as things remained peaceful.

“Your voices holding me accountable are important and you should continue to raise them,” Durkan told those assembled outside the city’s Emergency Operations Center downtown.

Durkan and protest leaders planned to meet Wednesday afternoon.

On Tuesday Seattle’s police watchdog agency said it would investigate the use of pepper spray Monday night to break up a fourth consecutive day of large protests over the George Floyd killing.

The department said that demonstrators threw fireworks and tried to storm a barricade near a police station. Police Chief Carmen Best said one officer was struck in the face with a chunk of concrete.

But video posted on Reddit and Facebook showed that in the moments before the chaos began, an officer grabbed a pink umbrella that a demonstrator was holding just across a barricade as a shield against a potential application of pepper spray. Other officers nearby then began spraying chemicals and firing flash-bangs at the crowd.