The tweet: Kshama Sawant tweeted later in the day that the teen’s “tragic killing” highlighted “capitalism’s brutality & endemic violence.”
Sawant, a member of the Trotskyist Socialist Alternative political party, has been a vocal supporter of the CHOP and radical solutions to address police brutality and racial inequality following the death of George Floyd.While we await details of this tragic killing, it highlights capitalism's brutality & endemic violence. Our movement rejects insinuations & falsehoods perpetuated by corporate & conservative media that this violence is outcome of CHOP or of our movement.https://t.co/AsbMeUiRgp
— Kshama Sawant (@cmkshama) June 29, 2020
- She said the CHOP victim’s death illuminated the need to “Defund the Police by at least 50 percent,” tax Amazon to fund housing and jobs and release arrested protesters without charging them.
- The third-term city council member also suggested police might have played a role in the drive-by shooting death, although she stopped short of accusing officers of killing the victim.
- Since that time, multiple shootings have occurred in the police-free zone, leaving several wounded and two dead.
- The latest CHOP shooting claimed the life of one 16-year-old and left a 14-year-old severely injured.
- Seattle police cleared out the zone on Wednesday morning, arresting approximately a dozen protesters who refused to leave.
- Durkham sent a letter to the Seattle City Council on Tuesday, asking it to investigate Sawant’s actions and possibly expel her.
- In the letter, the mayor accused Sawant of allowing hundreds of protesters into City Hall after hours and leading a protest to Durkham’s home.
- Durkham also accused Sawant of encouraging protesters to occupy Seattle’s East Precinct despite the city’s attempts to deescalate the movement.
