Leftist agitators set up a “lawless” zone in Madison, Wisconsin, to protest the fatal police shooting of a knife-wielding felon, prompting local residents to lash out at city officials for not doing anything to restore order to the streets.  Multiple blocks of a Madison neighborhood are blocked by barricades of wooden pallets, trash cans, and boards with nails sticking out of them to protest the shooting of Corey Ruiz, a man with an extensive criminal history. Tents were also set up in the zone by activists, and the homeless population has moved into the zone as city officials ignore calls from locals to clear the area.  The city is even helping the agitators, bringing in portable toilets, trash cans, and even parked trucks to block off intersections, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. “As a resident trapped in the protest zone, I feel the protest turned into a very disrespectful occupation focused on punishing Willy Street for the incident,” one local told WMTV. “It is now a lawless zone and homeless encampment barricaded on all four sides with groups blocking local residences and businesses from surviving.” The neighborhood has been plagued by people urinating in the streets, drinking, loud fights, and agitators stealing trash cans for their blockade. One sign put up in the zone reads, “There’s more of us than them. We must revolt.”  “I feel like we are suffering and we shouldn’t be. Like [protesters] are claiming that they’re supporting the community by being down here, but they’re actually harming the community by shutting down major businesses on this stretch,” Jeff Schmidt, the co-owner of the Weary Traveler restaurant, told the Sentinel.  The city of Madison did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Daily Wire, but Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway’s office previously said officials were “exploring many avenues to reach a successful resolution without further heightening tensions and causing more harm to impacted community members, including protesters.” “A number of different City agencies are working to meet the needs of the neighborhood to the best of their ability,” she told the Sentinel. “We ask that everyone extend grace to each other in this difficult time.” The unrest stems from an incident last week in which police say Ruiz pulled a knife on them. Ruiz had dozens of criminal convictions, including for robbery by force, strangulation, drug possession, vehicle theft and battery of a public safety worker, resisting law enforcement, and drug paraphernalia. Other residents told the outlet that they are “very much upset with Madison leadership,” that the area is in a “state of fight-or-flight,” and that they described the situation as “extremely stressful.”  Sentinel reporter Laura Schulte posted photos and videos from what she said people are calling the “Corey Ruiz Autonomous Zone.”  I don’t usually enter the encampment this direction, but there are lots of boards with nails here to keep people out pic.twitter.com/shoLPfWxeY — Laura Schulte (@SchulteLaura) July 29, 2026 During the height of the widespread rioting following the death of George Floyd, leftist agitators set up the so-called “Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone” in Seattle that quickly turned into a violent drug den.