(Law Enforcement Today) Shortly before noon on Sunday, January 31st, nearly 35 activists with the group known as “Oly Housing Now,” occupied the lobby and 17 rooms at the Red Lion Inn.
According to The U.S. Sun, the group, alleged to be Antifa supporters, took over the hotel to demand it be used to house the homeless. They reportedly booked the rooms for homeless people from nearby encampments and planned to stay until the county committed funds for permanent housing…
Video on social media shows a line of officers outside the hotel trying to keep the angry mob at bay. One woman can be heard shouting, “(expletive) your sister, (expletive) your wife. I hope you all (expletive) die. Rest in piss!”
The #antifa protesting police trying to secure a hotel in Olympia, Wash. that was sieged by their comrades shout: “Pigs in a blanket, fry ‘em like bacon.” The chant refers to killing cops.
— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) February 1, 2021
Video by @jasonrantz:pic.twitter.com/Rj3fLHEzfV
Authorities said that they started receiving phone calls from hotel employees around 11am on Sunday, January 31st. Terrified employees said that the group was dressed in black and carrying batons and knives.
Police were told that the “mob of people wearing black” had entered the lobby and demanded them to open rooms. Reportedly, one employee was assaulted trying to stop part of the mob from entering the lobby, while about seven to eight other employees hid in a basement room.
After officers cleared the hotel, 12 people were arrested. Lt. Paul Lower of the Olympia Police Department said that his officers were going floor-to-floor adding:
“We’re still processing the building and anticipate more arrests to come.”
Mayor Cheryl Selby condemned the protest as “unproductive” and said it would not help solve the problem of homelessness in the city.
