Seattle Councilwoman Kshama Sawant on Thursday night demanded the Seattle Police Department surrender the East Precinct building to “Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone” (CHAZ) protesters.
“Our movement needs to urgently ensure East Precinct is not handed back to police, but is turned over permanently into community control,” Sawant wrote on Twitter.
Sawant said she would file legislation to convert the East Precinct into “a community center for restorative justice.”
“The process for deciding East Precinct conversion must include those involved in CHAZ, black community organizations, restorative justice, faith, anti-racist, renter organizations, land trusts, groups, labor unions that have a proven record of fighting racism,” she wrote.
Sawant is an elected City Council official and a self-described socialist.
On Tuesday night, she opened Seattle City Hall to protesters, where they swarmed in and demanded the resignation of Mayor Jenny Durkan.
On Monday, Sawant also introduced a bill to ban police from using tear gas and chokeholds.
A “Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone” sign hangs on the exterior of the Seattle Police Departments East Precinct on June 9, 2020 in Seattle, Washington. Protests have continued in many parts of the city including inside City Hall and around the Seattle Police Departments East Precinct, an area that has earned the moniker “Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone,” during ongoing Black Lives Matter protests in the wake of George Floyd’s death. (David Ryder/Getty Images)