Former Raleigh City Council candidate charged with misdemeanor stalking, assault
Raleigh activist and former city council and mayoral candidate Zainab Baloch is facing misdemeanor charges of stalking and assault.
Baloch, 31, was arrested Sunday afternoon at the Raleigh Police Department precinct on Six Forks Road and charged with stalking and assault with a deadly weapon, arrest records show.
Arrest warrants obtained by The News & Observer say Baloch harassed a Cary man and followed him in her car to a Raleigh police station and then to his home.
She’s accused of “intentionally striking” Abutaleb’s vehicle twice at a traffic light with her vehicle. The warrants aren’t clear on the sequence of events.
Baloch is founder of Young Americans Protest, a Raleigh-based civic engagement and social justice advocacy group.
She declined to comment on the charges when reached by The N&O through Twitter.
Ex-city council, mayoral candidate
Baloch has run unsuccessfully for City Council several times, including City Council in 2017 and for mayor in 2019.
Most recently, she ran for the District B seat on the City Council, but ended her campaign in September.
Baloch still appeared on Raleigh voters’ ballot as one of five candidates for the Raleigh City Council District B seat. As a candidate, Baloch championed issues like affordable housing and accused the incumbent council members of inaction.
She caused some controversy when she posted and deleted photos on social media in early October holding a burning campaign sign of incumbent City Council member Jonathan Melton.
Baloch previously defended the photo to The N&O as an “act of radical resistance” against Melton and Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin, who were re-elected in the Nov. 8 elections.
Baloch’s 2017 campaign made headlines after one of her campaign signs was defaced with a racial slur.
She has organized public protests and marches for a range of civil rights and social justice causes, including to protest the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade and Black Lives Matter protests in 2020.
She does not have a criminal history.
