Seattle rioters tried to seal police officers inside precinct with cement and set the building on fire

Anti-police rioters in Seattle attempted to trap officers inside a precinct by sealing the door with cement and setting the building on fire, KTTH reported.

Unrest in Seattle has been on going since late May, when George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis Police Department officers, but it may have been further inflamed by the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Video of the Blake shooting went viral over the weekend.

According to KTTH, some protesters brought quick-dry cement to the Seattle Police Department's East Precinct. As other rioters vandalized the building, some of them mixed up a cement solution and applied it to the door, as well as destroying the key card reader on the door.

At the same time, some of the rioters tried to set the building on fire with officers inside, with the apparent intention of burning the officers alive. Fortunately, they weren't very good at mixing up concrete. From Jason Rantz of KTTH:

A source tells me the officers inside had to kick the door open to exit the building and disperse the rioters. Luckily, already lacking discernible skills, the rioters did not follow directions and may have used too much water in the cement mixture. Photos indicate it too runny to fully seal the doorway shut.

Seattle police have been targeted with intense protests for months, including several weeks when protesters occupied nine blocks of the city surrounding the East Precinct in what was called the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone.

At the wishes of the protesters, the Seattle City Council voted 7-1 to cut the police budget so severely that it could cause the department to lose 100 officers. The vote spurred Chief Carmen Best to submit her resignation. Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan, who was supportive of the anti-police protests, vetoed that cut.

From the Seattle Times:

Durkan described the council's cuts to police as imprudent, saying they had "no plan for how the city will bridge gaps in the police response that will be caused if we lose 100 police officers" and "no plans for how the city will address encampments or RVs that pose a public safety risk."

She also objected to cutting the salaries of SPD's command staff.