Protesters appear to have thwarted, at least until Sunday, the city’s plans to remove concrete barriers that defined the edges of the Capitol Hill Organized Protest, or CHOP, for several weeks.

Seattle Department of Transportation crews arrived Friday morning with trucks and machinery to remove barriers at 12th Avenue and Pike Street. But at least one protester lay down in the street in front of a piece of equipment, and after a few hours, city workers backed away.

Then in a two-hour meeting with a group of protesters Friday afternoon at First African Methodist Episcopal Church on 14th Avenue, Mayor Jenny Durkan said she intends to clear most remaining barriers and items Sunday morning from the CHOP area, said citizen journalist Omari Salisbury with Converge Media. Salisbury was the only journalist allowed to attend the session. He then briefed news reporters outside.

It’s unclear how the protest representatives who attended the meeting were chosen; a group gathered in front of the church beforehand amid confusion about who could go into the meeting.

Durkan did not speak to anyone as she was leaving the meeting.

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https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/city-of-seattle-appears-ready-to-remove-chop-barricades/