SEATTLE (AP) — Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best says officers will go into the 5-block area being occupied by protesters if there are threats to public safety.

Police pulled back from a part of the city’s Capitol Hill neighborhood after recent clashes with people protesting the Minneapolis death of George Floyd near the department’s East Precinct.

A festival-like atmosphere has emerged in the area, now called the “Capitol Hill Occupied Protest,” with participants painting murals on the street and planting a community garden.

Best said officers have written multiple police reports for crimes reported in that area in the past 48 hours.