SEATTLE — Residents of Seattle’s North Aurora neighborhood plan to march Saturday night to demand emergency action from city and state leaders in response to what they describe as escalating sex trafficking and gun violence along Aurora Avenue North.
The demonstration comes days after King County prosecutors announced the filing of hundreds of human trafficking cases connected to Seattle’s Aurora Avenue corridor in recent years and urged lawmakers to strengthen penalties for those who purchase sex.
The demonstration also comes weeks after frustrated residents built gun violence barricades on Seattle’s Aurora Ave. side streets, and Mayor Katie Wilson directed Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) crews to remove the homemade barriers and install temporary traffic-calming measures.
The “March Against Sex Trafficking and Gun Violence” will begin at 9 p.m. Saturday at North 102nd Street and Aurora Avenue North, according to organizers…