St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson has temporarily moved out of her home after a string of protests took place outside her residence.
Krewson and her husband, former television reporter Mike Owens, have been living in an apartment since early July, she confirmed on Wednesday, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
“We have not lived at home for 2 months,” Krewson said in a text message to a reporter. “We did it to deescalate the situation, to save police resources, and importantly because our neighbors were being disturbed and threatened.”
The mayor added, “For me it comes with the territory,” and “I ran for this job — my neighbors did not.”
Krewson and Owens are not using city money or campaign funds to pay for their temporary living arrangements.
Protesters marched to and in front of the St. Louis mayor’s home in late June and early July after she read the names and addresses of constituents who want to defund the police aloud during a live event on social media. Krewson faced calls to resign after she was accused of endangering the lives of the protesters whom she doxxed, and she has since apologized. An online petition demanding her resignation accumulated more than 60,000 signatures.
In the run-up to one of these demonstrations, protesters marched past the mansion of Mark and Patricia McCloskey, who pointed guns at them in a now-infamous confrontation. The couple, who now face felony charges, spoke at last week’s Republican National Convention.
Krewson is not the only mayor nationwide to have protesters meet them at their own front door amid a growing movement in protest of racial inequality and police brutality.
Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler told his neighbors earlier this week that he’ll be moving out after protesters showed up outside his residence. Last month, Chicago police refused to allow protesters to enter Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s street.
