St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson Flees Home over Repeated Protests: ‘Our Neighbors Were Being Threatened’

St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson (D) revealed this week that she and husband have relocated over repeated protests outside of their residence.

In a Wednesday statement to St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Krewson said “we have not lived at home for 2 months” due to demonstrations in July and August. “We did it to deescalate the situation, to save police resources, and, importantly, because our neighbors were being disturbed and threatened.”

“I ran for this job — my neighbors did not,” she told the newspaper.

The revelation comes as ongoing protests and violent unrest in downtown Portland and outside Mayor Ted Wheeler’s (D) upscale condo building have forced him to move.

The demonstrations that began late Monday and extended into Tuesday fell on Wheeler’s 58th birthday and featured shiny golden alphabet balloons that protesters used to spell out an expletive.

They sang on the street outside the mayor’s building, some wearing party hats, and the fire was set with a bundle of newspapers in a store housed on the ground floor of Wheeler’s building. There were no reports of major damage or injuries.

Wheeler, who is also police commissioner, has come under fire for his failure to bring the violence in Oregon’s largest city under control and for heading up a police force that has used tear gas multiple times against demonstrators.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.