There are nonviolent steps that could be taken to convince protesters in Seattle who have taken over several city blocks to stop their activism, Sen. Tom Cotton said Thursday while adding that the situation can't continue indefinitely.
"I expect if you turn off the water and electricity and close some of those buildings, those activists might decide it's time to end the activism and go home," the Arkansas Republican said on Fox News' "America's Newsroom." "Those kinds of nonviolent steps, I think, would be appropriate. No government can allow an angry mob to take over its buildings and refuse or prevent the people's government from doing the people's business."
Cotton added that no mayor or governor should be tolerating the destruction of buildings, and the takeover "can't be allowed to continue indefinitely."
Protesters against racial injustices after the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis by a white police officer have taken over a section of downtown Seattle. In addition, hundreds of protesters on Tuesday stormed Seattle City Hall, where they demanded that Mayor Jenny Durkan either cut funding to the city's police department or resign from her post.
President Donald Trump Wednesday railed against the protesters and city leaders, complaining that the "radical left Democrats" in Seattle lost their city to "domestic terrorists" and "ugly anarchists."
Meanwhile, Cotton said he's introduced a resolution that calls for justice for Floyd and other victims of excessive police force but opposes the "radical efforts" underway to defund police departments.
Democrats, though, are too "scared of their own far-left activist base" to stop the defunding efforts, said Cotton.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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