...refusing to let cops into the six-block zone lives in an $800,000 home but has railed against gentrification of Seattle
-- Kshama Sawant, 46, has been described as a leader in the creation of Seattle's Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone
-- The city councilwoman has urged fellow activists not to allow cops back into the six-block zone set up in the center of the city
-- Indian-born Sawant worked as a software engineer before migrating to the US, where she was 'radicalized by the inequality
and poverty' that she saw
- Sawant became the first socialist to be elected to Seattle's City Council in 2013; she recently endorsed Bernie Sanders for
President
- However, she has come under fire for railing against gentrification while being married to a Microsoft engineer; she is also
reported to live in a $800K home
- One Seattle Times columnist has compared her to the Queen in Alice In Wonderland, because of her 'off with their heads'
political style

By ANDREW COURT and JENNIFER SMITH, 13 June 2020

A software engineer turned firebrand socialist has been named as the leader of a movement which has pushed police out of six-block area of central Seattle, known as the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ).

Indian-born Kshama Sawant, 46, who now serves on the Seattle City Council, is encouraging activists in the CHAZ 'to hold out on giving back the precinct to cops or allowing officers inside the barricaded region', according to Fox News.

The CHAZ was established on June 8, after protesters took over Capitol Hill's East Precinct building, sending members of the Seattle Police Department fleeing.

Sawant tweeted Friday: 'Our movement needs to urgently ensure East Precinct is not handed back to police, but is turned over permanently into community control. My office is bringing legislation to convert East Precinct into a community center for restorative justice.'

She further stated: 'The movement has been undaunted in the face of horrific violence from Mayor Durkan's police. Congratulations, solidarity!'



On Tuesday, Sawant used her position as a councilwoman to lead hundreds of protesters into City Hall, where she reportedly unlocked the building and let 300 people stage an hours-long takeover of the building.

The group called upon Mayor Durkan to resign.

Sawant is known for her militant and uncompromising style of politics, prompting one Seattle Times columnist to liken her to the Queen in Alice in Wonderland.

'She had has one answer to every question, and it is always some form of 'off with their heads'', the writer stated.

In 2013, Sawant became the first socialist to be elected to the Seattle City Council. She describes herself as an 'an activist who brings a passion for social justice to her work as a public servant'.

According to her official government biography, Sawant was born in Mumbai, India but relocated to the United States in the early 2000s after working as software engineer. 'Upon arriving in the US, the richest country in the world, Sawant was surprised and radicalized by the inequality and poverty that exists here,' the biography reads.

She pursued a PhD at North Carolina State University before relocating to Seattle.

Sawant joined the Socialist Alternative in 2006 and became a councilwoman in 2013. She recently endorsed Bernie Sanders for President. The ex-software engineer also made headlines by vowing to give up a majority of her six-figure salary. She has boasted of only taking around $40,000 of her pay and 'donating the rest to building social justice movements.'

However, Sawant has not escaped criticism.

Her reported marriage to a high-powered Microsoft engineer, Vivek Sawant, raised eyebrows given she railed against the gentrification of Seattle. The pair divorced in 2014. According to MyNorthwest, Sawant 'lives in a house that is worth between $800,000 and $900,000 and has over a half-million in equity' in the property.
snip
At a Thursday news conference neither Police Chief Best nor Mayor Durkan made it clear who decided that police should leave the precinct.

Best said at the press conference that police response times to priority calls of violent crimes in progress had tripled this week. Police sources say that responses to low-priority calls have been suspended. 'If that is your mother, your sister, your cousin, your neighbor's kid that is being raped, robbed assaulted (or) otherwise victimized you're not going to want to have to report that it took the police three times longer to get there to provide services to them,' Best said.

Durkan said regarding Trump's statements about Seattle that one of the things the president will never understand is that listening to community is not a weakness, but a strength.

'A real leader would see nationwide protest, the grief in so many communities of color, particularly our black communities, and the call to be an anti-racist society, as an opportunity for America. An opportunity to build a better nation,' she said.

Protesters have said they want to see the precinct turned into a community center or used for purposes other than law enforcement.

Sawant disputed accounts of violence or intimidation by protesters within the area on Capitol Hill and said it was more like a street fair with political discussions and a drum circle.

'The right wing has been spreading rumors that there is some sort of lawlessness and crime taking place at the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, but it is exactly the opposite of that,' said Sawant, a socialist and a critic of Durkan and the police.

Sawant said she wants the precinct to be 'converted into a public resource that will actually be helpful to society.'



https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...block-zone.html

A subsequent presser from Chief Best made it clear, "Leaving the Precinct was not my decision."