10June 2020
TOPLINE
weeks. Last week, Sawant– who had been critical of the mayor prior to the Floyd discontent– blamed the mayor for the harsh authorities strategies and contacted Durkan to resign, accusing her of being accountable for”violence and cruelty”in the city’s response to”extremely tranquil”demonstrations; the Seattle Times reports that several other council members “have actually questioned”Durkan’s reaction to the protests, but no members other than Sawant have actually called on the mayor to resign. Durkan, a Democrat, has condemned Floyd’s killing and been largely encouraging of the protesters in the city, blaming a small group of violent people who damaged property and attacked police officers during the demonstrations. After facing reaction, Durkan and Seattle Cops Chief Carmen Best modified crowd-control tactics, consisting of ordering officers to display screen badge numbers and prohibiting making use of tear gas for at least one month.
Crucial quote
“If Mayor Durkan declines to step aside, it will be the duty of the City board to eliminate her, by introducing posts of impeachment,” Sawant added last week.” The authorities have caused tear gas, mace, rubber bullets, flash-bang grenades, curfews, arrests and other repressive tactics on Seattle activists and citizens– consisting of kids– in an attempt to bully and silence the protest motion,”she stated. Tangent When inquired about the lack of social distancing in City Hall on Tuesday, Sawant recognized that the demonstrators were taking a risk.”It does(enhance the threat),”she stated.”I don’t reject it. The disobedience is still happening. That shows you the total failure of commercialism as a system.”Further reading Seattle Councilmember Kshama Sawant gets in touch with Mayor Jenny Durkan to resign over police response to George Floyd protests(Seattle Times) Seattle-area protests: Demonstrators back on Capitol Hill after inhabiting Municipal government (Seattle Times)Source: forbes.com