Seattle Mayor says the autonomous zone could lead to a 'summer of love,' has no plan to reclaim area

This week, the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle was overtaken by protesters who are calling the area a "no Cop Co-op." They successfully forced the police out of their nearby precinct and have walled off the urban area and lined its borders with signs reading "You are now leaving the USA."

The protesters, who violently clashed with police officers for a week prior to establishing their commune, have issued a list of 30 demands having to do with racial justice in the city.

Now the mayor of Seattle, Democrat Jenny Durkan, is saying she has no idea when the so-called "Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone," or "CHAZ" for short, will be disbanded. 

During an appearance on CNN's Chris Cuomo's primetime show, she was asked by the host, "How long do you think Seattle and those few blocks looks like this?"

To which Durkan responded, "I don't know. We could have a summer of love."

Though the mayor's comment was made in jest, neither she, nor Gov. Jay Inslee, a fellow Democrat, appear to have a plan to reclaim that area of the city, which includes a police precinct. 

Earlier this week, President Trump criticized the mayor and governor for not exerting control over their territories, warning that if they were unable to gain control over the situation, he would step in.

Inslee also has been for saying earlier in the week that he was not aware of the disturbance in Capitol Hill.

He and the mayor have fired back at Trump's criticisms, arguing the CHAZ is a "peaceful expression of our community's collective grief and their desire to build a better world."

Though the mayor appears reluctant to get police back into their precinct, the Seattle Police Department say it has a plan on returning to their station, though officials did not offer a timeline. Some officers were spotted heading into the Capitol Hill precinct on Thursday evening.  

Also on Thursday evening, a dumpster fire in the autonomous zone grew so large that the demonstrators called the Seattle Fire Department to extinguish it.