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Sunday, May 10, 2026
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Madison Protesters Build Nail-Studded Barricades in the Street — City Sends Trucks to Help

At the intersection of Williamson Street and South Baldwin Street in Madison, Wisconsin, wooden boards embedded with nails are scattered across a barricaded roadway. Bicycle frames are piled into makeshift walls. A sign reads: "Protests can be inconvenient. Murder is worse."

The city's response wasn't to clear the barricade. It was to park city trucks around the intersection to shield it.

Agitators have occupied the intersection for the least seven days, erecting what they're calling the "Corey Ruiz Autonomous Zone" — or CRAZ, for those keeping score. Corey Ruiz was a career criminal who stabbed a police officer and was subsequently shot by Madison police. Democratic Socialist Francesca Hong, currently running for governor of Wisconsin, declared Ruiz's death an "execution."

So now we have an armed encampment named after a man who stabbed a cop, defended by medieval-grade improvised weapons, sitting in the middle of a public road that's been closed "until further notice." And the city of Madison isn't just tolerating it — they moved municipal vehicles into position to protect the occupiers.

Dan Lennington pointed out on social media that "state law prohibits blocking roadways and highways." Which is true. It's also, apparently, optional if the people doing the blocking have the right politics.

The comparison to Seattle's Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone writes itself. In 2020, Seattle ceded six city blocks to CHAZ occupiers before the whole thing collapsed into violence. Madison looked at that disaster and thought: let's do that, but with nails.

Here's what makes Madison's version distinctive. CHAZ at least had the pretense of being tolerated through inaction — the city just failed to respond. In Madison, the city is actively participating. Those are city trucks forming the perimeter. That's not neglect. That's logistics support.

Imagine a group of conservative protesters blocking an intersection with nail-studded boards for a week. Imagine them naming their occupation zone after someone who attacked a police officer. Now imagine the city sending trucks to protect them while a gubernatorial candidate called the underlying police shooting an "execution."

You don't have to imagine how that would end. You already know.

Governor Evers hasn't weighed in. The mayor of Madison hasn't ordered the encampment cleared. And the street remains closed while boards with nails sit in the road like something out of a siege warfare manual.

When a city government provides physical infrastructure to protect people who deploy improvised weapons on public roads, the word "protest" stops applying. There's a simpler word for an armed occupation with government backing.

Madison just can't quite bring itself to say it.

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