The mayor of Madison, Wisconsin, called for protesters to disband from an “autonomous zone” established at the site where police shot and killed a knife-wielding homeless man last month.
Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway said the city is preparing to tow vehicles that activists have used to block off the intersection at Williamson Street and Baldwin Street in protest of the police killing of 38-year-old Corey Durell Ruiz.
Authorities said officers shot and killed Ruiz, an ex-felon, while he was resisting arrest on July 22 in the state’s capital city. Madison Police Chief John Patterson said Ruiz pulled out a knife during the altercation and wounded an officer before police fired the fatal shots.
State investigators are reviewing what led up to Ruiz’s killing, but many residents in the deep blue city determined the killing was unjust shortly after it became public knowledge.
Protesters harangued police and public officials at press conferences about the incident while holding up signs saying “Corrupt cops deserve to die too.”
Last week, demonstrators ramped up their protest campaign by positioning their cars and other objects to barricade themselves inside the “Corey Ruiz Autonomous Zone” where he was killed.
The area, which is modeled after Seattle’s “Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone” during the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020, calls itself a “law-enforcement-free zone” that has become a gathering place for both activists and the city’s homeless population.
“There is real harm being done to local businesses and residents in the Marquette Neighborhood. We are hearing from neighbors who are losing income and even jobs, and who will not be able to make rent. We are hearing from employees who are being laid off and businesses that are on the verge of closing permanently,” Ms. Rhodes-Conway said in a statement Sunday.
“Those who are dismissing or downplaying these concerns are not helping to advance a just cause; they are dividing our city at a time when we need to come together more than ever,” she said.
Ms. Rhodes-Conway also rebutted social media chatter that city officials were offering porta-potties, dumpsters and other handouts to the protesters to keep the autonomous zone up and running.
Council member Tag Evers called the autonomous zone “revolutionary cosplay” in his own statement discussing the potential dangers of letting the encampment persist.
He referenced how Seattle’s autonomous zone six years ago soon became the scene of several shootings and two killings in the 23 days it was allowed to operate.
While Madison’s encampment has not spiraled into deadly violence, Mr. Evers noted that the autonomous zone is affecting response times for emergency vehicles.
“This is not hyperbole. This is reality,” Mr. Evers wrote. “Those who are using the encampment as a bargaining chip to pressure the city to action, those who are threatening escalation if demands are not met, are putting other lives at risk.”
Ruiz’s death has become an issue in Wisconsin’s governor’s race, with leading Democratic hopeful and democratic socialist Francesca Hong calling Ruiz’s death an “execution.”
Ruiz has garnered an outpouring of sympathy despite his violent past.
Court records show Ruiz has spent time in jail for felony convictions for robbery, strangulation, resisting an officer and causing bodily harm, on top of misdemeanor arrests for car theft, battery and disorderly conduct.
Ruiz has nine arrests and eight convictions just for resisting, obstructing, threatening or injuring police officers. Five of those cases happened with Madison police.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.