Seattle businesses board up storefronts, prepare for more unruly protests

Businesses in Seattle take precautions by boarding up stores in preparations for more violent protests this weekend.

SEATTLE - Sounds of hammers and drills echoed through downtown Seattle Friday afternoon as construction crews lined the streets boarding up nearly every business near Westlake Center.

No one is quite sure what to expect this weekend in downtown Seattle, but businesses in the area say they aren’t taking their chances. In many ways, they feel it’s on them to protect themselves.

“They’re spending a lot of money to board up. We’ve done probably $200,000 in boards up with plywood in the last month and a half, which is an unfortunate use of money, especially when businesses are hurting down here,” said Blaze Pattison, president of Seabed Building Group.

He wasn’t excited about having a boom in business Friday and said coming back out here to this again is, frankly, just sad.

“The messaging we’re getting from our customers is we have to protect our businesses because it’s not getting protection from others,” said Pattison.

Less than two months ago, the businesses in this area were devastated by looting like the city had never seen before.

“Unfortunately our police have their hands tied behind their back, and we need to support our police and give them the tools to protect our community we all know and love,” said Chris Holmes, the owner of HST construction, another business busy with boarding up shops.

“Luckily we were able to find the materials because I understand home depot and local lumberyards are all sold out of plywood right now, even contractors down the street asked us if we have any extra material,” said Holmes.

“Most of the businesses in Seattle are being very protective, making sure the damage in riot number one doesn’t happen again,” said Pattison.

The Seattle City Council unanimously passed an ordinance last month banning SPD's use of tear gas, pepper spray, blast balls and other crowd-control measures.

It was supposed to take effect early Saturday morning, but the U.S. Department of Justice challenged the law and on Friday night, a federal judge granted the government's request to block the ordinance from taking effect.

The Justice Department, citing Seattle’s longstanding police consent decree, argued that banning the use of crowd control weapons could actually lead to more police use of force, leaving them only with more deadly weapons.

Best said Saturday that officers will be carrying pepper spray and blast balls when they respond to protests this weekend, but do not intend to use crowd control measures.