Seattle mayor accused of lying after blaming Christian rally for park violence

Organizers of the Christian rally that Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell blamed for a convulsive riot astatine a section parkland pushed backmost against his claims that they intentionally provoked outrage connected Tuesday. 

After constabulary reported aggregate arrests astatine the MayDayUSA rally astatine Cal Anderson Park connected Saturday, Harrell’s bureau released a connection defending the LGBTQ assemblage and protesters portion criticizing the "far-right rally" for provoking the convulsive reaction.

"Seattle is arrogant of our estimation arsenic a welcoming, inclusive metropolis for LGBTQ+ communities, and we basal with our trans neighbors erstwhile they look bigotry and injustice," the connection read. "Today’s far-right rally was held present for this precise crushed – to provoke a absorption by promoting beliefs that are inherently opposed to our city’s values, successful the bosom of Seattle’s astir salient LGBTQ+ neighborhood."

Though Harrell’s bureau suggested the rally was intentionally held astatine Cal Anderson Park to disturbance up controversy, pastor Russell Johnson, who helped to pb the event, said the determination was suggested to them by the city.

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"The @MayorofSeattle caught successful yet different lie. He said we intentionally chose Cal Anderson Park for our worship rally to ‘provoke a absorption by promoting beliefs that are opposed to Seattle’s values.’ Oops. He indispensable person forgot astir the email HIS OFFICE sent america connected March 7th denying our licence to stitchery astatine Pike Place and SUGGESTING we spell to Cal Anderson Park instead," Johnson wrote connected X.

Johnson provided email screenshots showing that their archetypal location, Pike Place, was rejected for being incapable to "successfully facilitate" the event. They besides showed that Cal Anderson Park was suggested arsenic an alternate option.

Fellow preacher Ross Johnston besides told Fox News Digital that their archetypal determination was rejected, and they past chose Cal Anderson Park aft the city’s suggestion. He condemned the mayor’s connection for taking the protesters’ broadside to "make things worse."

"His reasoning, of course, is that our values inherently opposed the values of Seattle," Johnston said. "Now, erstwhile I perceive that, my question is what values is helium referring to? Is helium referring to the Constitution, the Bill of Rights? Because I don't cognize if helium knows this, but he's really an elected person successful the United States of America. And successful the 250-year past of the federation of America, though we mightiness not each spot eye-to-eye connected each azygous matter, oregon adjacent religion for that matter, we each bash hold connected having the aforesaid rights, right?"

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Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell released a connection aft constabulary officers arrested implicit 20 radical aft unit broke retired astatine a Christian rally. (GENNA MARTIN/San Francisco Chronicle/Mat Hayward via Getty Images)

In a connection to Fox News Digital, Harrell’s bureau confirmed that the rally’s Pike Place determination was rejected and that a metropolis staffer "shared respective parks that had imaginable availability." However, Harrell’s property secretary, Callie Craighead, pointed retired that Cal Anderson Park was the rally organizers' archetypal prime aft being fixed different options, providing Fox News Digital with a transcript of a licence from March.

Craighead besides suggested the rally organizers "directly explained their provocative thinking" erstwhile choosing locations by citing a pre-rally video depicting Johnston describing their Pike Place determination arsenic "Antifa’s headquarters" and "where thousands showed up for BLM."

"Mayor Harrell remains steadfast successful his denouncement of rhetoric from groups whose messages beforehand exclusion, intolerance, and undermine the dignity and rights of immoderate assemblage member—particularly those that are marginalized, similar our LGBTQ+ community," Craighead said.

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Harrell accused Christian rally organizers of deliberately stoking outrage. (David Ryder/Bloomberg via Getty Images | Photo by Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

She added, "As a Christian himself, the politician is guided by the Christian values of emotion and justice, and his comments person specifically addressed ideologies that are successful opposition to Seattle’s committedness to being a welcoming metropolis for all. Like immoderate religion community, Christianity is not a monolith—and galore Christians passim Seattle bash not clasp the beliefs expressed by the organizers of the Mayday rally."

In effect to the mayor’s archetypal statement, Johnston and Johnson launched a protestation rally extracurricular Seattle City Hall connected Tuesday, calling for his resignation. Johnston besides emphasized that helium "100%" condemned violence.

"We privation cipher to beryllium arrested. We privation cipher to beryllium wounded oregon extremity up successful the hospital. Absolutely not. We condone each unit 100% of the time," Johnston told Fox News Digital.