Businesses and residents suffer in silence as chaos reigns in Seattle's armed occupation zone

Despite media reports that everything is fine within the so-called Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ) in Seattle, both business and owners and residents report being afraid. In the occupied six-block area where protestors and the homeless have made camp, businesses have had difficulty getting trucks or other vehicles through the make-shift barricades.

One of those businesses is Trader Joe’s, which announced on June 13 that its Capitol Hill location would be closed indefinitely due to ongoing unrest in the area. The location had been offering senior citizen shopping hours throughout the pandemic, but the occupation became too much for them.