A resident of the Chicago apartment raided by police in an alleged terror bust related to the city’s NATO summit is the spokeswoman for Occupy Chicago, WND has learned.
Zoe Sigman, a top leader of Chicago’s Occupy movement, claimed in a radio interview yesterday that she was “110 percent sure” the police trumped up claims of confiscating Molotov cocktail equipment in her home as part of a planned attack on President Obama’s Chicago headquarters and Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s home.
In the same interview, Sigman conceded she was not present during the time of the police raid and claimed that she didn’t know the protesters she allowed to stay in her home.
“We opened up our house because there were a bunch of protesters coming in and no place for them to stay,” Sigman said on WABC Radio’s “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio.”
She said she didn’t know the activists staying in her apartment.
Sigman vehemently denied the charges that explosive materials were seized from her apartment.
“That is a complete and total lie,” stated Sigman when confronted with the police accusations.
“It is vitriolic in order to justify their illegal raid of our apartment. It is complete and total bulls–t. It’s a joke that that’s even what they are saying. There was never anything even remotely like that (explosive material) in our apartment.”
She said the police raid, which took place while she was out, lasted several hours and that she stayed away from her apartment after being warned of the bust by those inside.
Asked by Klein whether she was a member of Occupy, Sigman replied: “There are really no members of Occupy. I went to Occupy in the past.”
Sigman, however, is one of the most publicly identified Occupy Chicago leaders.
She is quoted in scores of recent news reports as Occupy Chicago’s spokeswoman.
It was Sigman who launched Occupy Chicago’s anti-NATO protests in an official press conference last week.
She used the conference to announce that Occupy will attempt to shut down the commercial airplane, aerospace and defense corporation Boeing on the final day of the summit.
“Boeing is a corporate war criminal who profits off of violence on a mass scale,” Sigman said. “The people of the world will confront Boeing, holding it accountable for the crimes they have committed.”
She further slammed NATO leaders as “warmongers” invading Chicago and “the military arm of the 1 percent.”
“NATO,” Sigman said, “is a symptom of the global system of violence and oppression at the hands of the 1 percent.”
Sigman has a YouTube trail, including several videos in which she accuses the police of deliberately attacking Occupy protesters.
Hear Klein’s interview with Sigman:
[jwplayer D8M98HWU]
Sigman lives with her boyfriend, William “Billy” Vassilakis, himself an Occupy activist.
WND found ads placed by Vassilakis on April 28 advertising that his apartment was available for Occupy protesters.
Sigman has talked about “a constant flux of people” through her apartment.
“It was really a really awesome atmosphere in the apartment,” she said.
Prosecutors alleged some of Sigman’s out-of-town visitors were “domestic terrorists” intent on carrying out attacks. On Sunday, they charged a further two men with terrorism-related offences, bringing to five the number of activists from Sigman’s apartment charged in relation to the alleged plots to disrupt the NATO summit.
Police say the suspects were planning to make Molotov cocktails to use against police, as well as Obama’s Chicago headquarters and Emanuel’s.
The suspects were charged with conspiracy to commit terrorism, providing material support for terrorism and possession of an explosive or incendiary device.
This mark’s Occupy’s latest alleged involvement in domestic terror plots.
Earlier this month, five suspects were charged with a thwarted plot to blow up a bridge just outside Cleveland.
WND was first to report some of bridge-bombing suspects participated in Occupy events and that one suspect was described by news media in March as an Occupy member.
WND was also first to report last week that Occupy had partnered with anarchy groups to engage in joint “direct action.”
With research by Brenda J. Elliott
