Christian Street Preacher Assaulted, Put in Chokehold While Sharing Jesus in Seattle “Autonomous” Zone

State | Micaiah Bilger | Jun 15, 2020 | 12:42PM | Seattle, Washington

Videos of a pro-life advocate, Christians and others being assaulted and harassed inside the new “autonomous” zone in Washington state are popping up on social media.

The New American reports protesters recently set up the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ), now called the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest (CHOP) zone, in a section of Seattle, kicked out police and set up guarded borders.

They claim the police force is racist and must be abolished after a black man named George Floyd died when a police officer knelt on his neck while he pleaded that he could not breathe.

However, reports of violence and harassment by the protesters are surfacing, including a video of a man who was harassed and then kicked out of the CHOP zone for being pro-life, according to the report.

“Occupiers forced this guy out who was live-streaming inside the zone. The crowd was calling him a white supremacist, though the man being pushed out says he’s simply an anti-abortion advocate. The crowd chanted, ‘Who don’t matter? This (expletive)!’” Town Hall’s Julio Rosas wrote on Twitter, linking to a video of the incident.

Jack Posobiec of One America News Network (OAN) shared another video of a street preacher who was assaulted and harassed inside the zone.

“We came here to express our religious views about the Lord Jesus Christ … They put me in choke-holds several times. They choked me,” the preacher said.

The preacher told OAN that protesters also stole his phone, ripped his sign out of his hands, kneed him in the head and harassed him continuously. He said they did not want him to share his message about Jesus Christ.

“Mr. Trump, this place has got to be shut down now. They’ve taken our country. It’s a disgrace. This is not America,” the man said.

The Blaze reported more about the preacher being harassed and linked to videos of him being surrounded by protesters and choked, kissed and mocked.

‘We came here to express our religious views about the Lord Jesus Christ…They put me in a chokehold’ pic.twitter.com/GO3d4Snkkf

— Jack Posobiec (@JackPosobiec) June 14, 2020

Dragging him out pic.twitter.com/wYUG9DS3Rx

— Jack Posobiec (@JackPosobiec) June 14, 2020

Here’s more from the report:

One activist in the CHAZ threatened the protester. In the video, a man wearing a red bandanna on his face can be heard telling the preacher, “You’ll die out here bro. Do you wanna die out here?” The preacher responded, “Sin is worse than death.”

The same people who protested police brutality in the past few weeks, especially chokeholds, were the same ones choking the preacher because he didn’t obey their orders. The preacher screamed, “You’re choking me!”

At another point, when the street preacher tried to walk onto a stage and yelled, “This is a Christian zone!”, several people wrestled him to the ground, according to the report. Eventually, the street preacher was allowed to leave. None of the reports named him.

Many of the protesters align themselves with the Black Lives Matter organization, which supports abortion.

Violence against pro-life advocates and by abortion activists has become increasingly common. LifeNews.com recorded more than 100 reports of assault, vandalism, harassment and other incidents in 2019. Our news outlet began tracking these reports after pro-life organizations expressed alarm about an uptick in violence in recent years.

Incidents in 2020 include:

Mexico – Abortion Activists Vandalize Churches During March Against Police

Mexico – Catholic Church Vandalized with Pro-Abortion Graffiti as State Debates Legalizing Abortion (Crux)

Illinois – Abortion Activists Pelt Pro-Lifers with Eggs Outside Planned Parenthood

Abortion Activists Hack Pro-Life Student Event, ‘Bomb’ It With Gay Porn and Nazi Imagery

California – Pro-Life Billboard Vandalized in San Francisco (Prolife Across America)

Austria – Catholic Mission Vandalized with Pro-Abortion Graffiti, Windows Smashed in Salzburg (Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians in Europe, Kathnet)

Illinois – Video: Abortion Activist Vandalizes Pro-Life Sign near Chicago (Students for Life)

Canada – Pro-Life Billboard Smeared with Paint by Vandals near Kelowna (CastaNet)

Germany – Pregnancy Center Vandalized, Windows Smashed (Pregnancy Help News)

Oregon – Vandals Destroy “Pro-Trump. Pro-Life” Campaign Sign in Man’s Yard (Washington Times)

Texas – Pro-life Christian Threatened with Gun outside Fort Worth Abortion Facility (Fort Worth Star Telegram)