The FBI is investigating Seattle after the city's Democratic mayor blamed Christians for violence that occurred at a prayer rally to protect children from gender ideology.
The police arrested 23 people at MayDay USA’s "Don’t Mess With Our Kids" rally, which was met with a violent response from left-wing agitators.
City officials in Seattle have said it was a mistake to allow Christians to peacefully assemble in the "historically gay" Capitol Hill neighborhood where the May 24 rally was held - but the Trump administration is sending a forceful reminder that First Amendment freedoms are not up for negotiation.
"We have asked our team to fully investigate allegations of targeted violence against religious groups at the Seattle concert," deputy FBI director Dan Bongino wrote on X. "Freedom of religion isn’t a suggestion."
A Seattle police press release said the chaos began when one of the groups began throwing items at the other group. While police did not identify the aggressors, left-wing "anti-fascists" are infamous for throwing projectiles at peaceful protesters and police.
"Officers immediately moved to arrest the people responsible, and while taking the individuals into custody, were assaulted by more protesters, resulting in even more arrests," the press release said.
Mayor Bruce Harrell characterized the Christian gathering as an intentionally provocative "far-right" hate rally, accusing the protesters of "promoting beliefs that are inherently opposed to our city’s values, in the heart of Seattle’s most prominent LGBTQ+ neighborhood."
While quick to blame the Christians, Harrell suggested that a handful of "anarchists" had infiltrated a group of otherwise peaceful counter-protesters.
City councilman Bob Kettle has said that it was a "mistake" to allow the event in Cal Anderson Park, adding, "I think you can have your First Amendment rights, but then we can do it in a respectful way."
While demanding that the Christians exercise their First Amendment rights in a way the city finds "respectful," officials have been silent about the obscene and violent behavior of counter-protesters who made lewd displays and threw bottles of urine.
"People in the crowd who had come to our worship event were physically assaulted," organizer and Pastor Russell Johnson told the Jason Rantz Show. "They had members there doing lewd sex acts in front of children. They were throwing water balloons filled with urine, you know, all sorts of things. And the police know who are the good guys and who are the bad guys, and so does City Hall," he continued.
While the city is painting the Christians as instigators over their choice in location, officials have admitted to denying MayDay USA's initial request for a permit in Pike Place Market over space constraints.
"That [location] was the idea that came from City Hall, and we followed their advice in an attempt to show a good faith effort to work with the city," Johnson explained. "And that's how we ended up at Cal Anderson and, of course, the mayor knows all of that. This is his team. These are his employees. And so, then when he releases a statement on Saturday evening, blaming the church, well, you and I both know Jason, nobody from the church was arrested on Saturday evening for violence. But 23 radical leftist Antifa members were."
The city's crackdown on disfavored speech stands in contrast to former mayor Jenny Durkan's passive response to left-wing radicals who seized control of entire blocks in the Capitol Hill neighborhood after the death of George Floyd. The infamous, police-free "autonomous zone" descended into deadly mayhem before being shut down.
Seattle is now taking the position that "historically gay" Capitol Hill is protected ground where freedom of speech is off-limits.
Bongino's remark that "freedom of religion isn't a suggestion" is a reminder that Seattle's liberal leadership badly needs. While the mayor seems to think the city's "values" are beyond reproach, the First Amendment guarantees precisely the right to disagree with and criticize the "values" of a particular political establishment.
We will have to see where the FBI's investigation goes, but perhaps legal pressure will convince the city to amend its ways.
