Socialist Seattle Councilmember Kshama Sawant blamed “capitalism” for yet another shooting in the city’s “Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone” (CHAZ), also known as the “Capitol Hill Occupied Protest,” (CHOP) Monday.
Sawant, a member of the left-wing group “Socialist Alternative,” which advocates for a $15 minimum wage and free college among a litany of other far-left fantasy items, said Monday’s shootings in the anarchist utopia that left a 16-year-old dead and a 14-year-old critically injured “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,” Sawant wrote. Except that this is at least the area’s fourth shooting within two weeks, and the second to become fatal, according to Seattle’s King5 News.
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
Last week, Seattle’s Democratic Mayor Jenny Durkan announced plans for the city to break up the protest taking over downtown, but demolition crews were prevented from entering the area by protestors laying in the street to prevent them on Friday, Fox News reported.
Meanwhile, Washington’s Democrat Gov. Jay Inslee escaped discussing the topic on Sunday during an appearance on CBS’ “Face the Nation” with John Dickerson. When Inslee has addressed the issue of an anarchist militia taking over part of his state’s largest city, the Washington governor continued to characterize the protest as “peaceful.”
I spoke with @MayorJenny and her team about the situation on Capitol Hill. Although unpermitted, and we should remember we are still in a pandemic, the area is largely peaceful. Peaceful protests are fundamentally American, and I am hopeful there will be a peaceful resolution.
— Governor Jay Inslee (@GovInslee) June 11, 2020
President Donald Trump has pleaded with Seattle’s state and local leaders to end the unlawful occupation.
Radical Left Governor @JayInslee and the Mayor of Seattle are being taunted and played at a level that our great Country has never seen before. Take back your city NOW. If you don’t do it, I will. This is not a game. These ugly Anarchists must be stopped IMMEDIATELY. MOVE FAST!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 11, 2020
While playing down the civil unrest in his own neighborhood, Inslee was even caught completely unaware of the Seattle occupation days after it began.
Jay Inslee had no idea anarchists were overrunning his state’s largest city.
“That’s news to me,” he said when asked about #CapitalHillAutonomousZonepic.twitter.com/cDwqzEZq6b
— Tristan Justice (@JusticeTristan) June 11, 2020
Occupiers released a cohesive list of their demands earlier this month, calling for a return to the state of nature that features a new 21st-century segregation and the abolition of the Seattle police force.
