In June 2020, Cal Anderson Park became the center of one of the most unusual events in Seattle's history. Following the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police on May 25, 2020, protests erupted across the country and focused with particular intensity on Capitol Hill, where the Seattle Police Department's East Precinct is located. On June 8, 2020, Seattle police withdrew from the precinct under sustained community pressure.
Protesters and community members moved in, establishing the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest — CHOP, also called CHAZ, the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone — a six-block area that operated without police presence for three weeks. The occupation included free food stations, medical tents, an art festival, political speeches, and community garden plantings in this park. The national political response was polarized; President Trump called it a domestic terror zone; Seattle residents largely saw it as a community experiment.
The occupation ended on July 1, when the city reclaimed the area after a series of shootings. What it meant remains contested. But for three weeks in the summer of 2020, this park was the site of a genuine experiment in community self-governance, conducted in full view of the world.