The governor of Minnesota and the mayors of its two largest cities are urging residents to stay off the streets after an 8 p.m. curfew to avoid providing cover to what they say are people from out-of-state trying to take advantage of the chaos.
Gov. Tim Walz said the state has fully mobilized the National Guard and will have the largest number of police, state troopers and guardsmen out in force Saturday night.
Walz said he now believes that the most-recent violence — arson, looting and even shooting at police officers and firefighters on Friday night and early Saturday — is being fanned by well-organized groups that are trained in urban warfare tactics. He said similar attacks occurred in other cities in the midst of national and even global protests of the death of George Floyd, who died while in the custody of Minneapolis police Monday night.
Walz said such attacks could be about domestic terrorism, ideological extremism, or even an international effort to destabilize the U.S.
The governor said protests planned for the day can go on, but he also urged them to end by 8 p.m. “There will be legitimate exercising of First Amendment rights,” he said. “But we’re asking those people, as soon as those are done, to disperse and be out of the area. If you are out after 8, you are aiding and abetting these folks, you are making it easier for them and you’re giving them the cover that they want.”
That request was echoed Saturday morning by Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter.
“If you are concerned, I get it,” Frey said of the public safety response the last several nights. “If you have family members or friends who are even considered protesting, this is no longer about protesting. This is no longer about verbal expression. This is about violence and we need to make sure that it stops.
“The people who are doing this are not Minneapolis residents,” Frey continued. “They are coming in largely from outside of this city, from outside the region to prey on everything that we have built over the last several decades.”
[image_credit]MinnPost photo by Peter Callaghan[/image_credit][image_caption]Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey: "This is no longer about verbal expression. This is about violence and we need to make sure that it stops."[/image_caption]
“As I talk to my friends who have been in this movement a very long time, who wake up in this movement every day, I ask them what they are seeing,” Carter said of the local civil rights movement. “To a person, I hear them say, ‘We don’t know these folks; we don’t know these folks who are agitating; we don’t know these folks who are inciting violence; we don’t know these folks who are first in to break a window.”
Carter said those who start fires are using protesters as “human shields.” And while he said he doesn’t expect people who have come to incite violence will care about curfews, the purpose of asking protesters to stay home tonight is to “so that we can separate who are the people in our community who are hurting and need to be able to peacefully exercise their rights, from the people who are looking to break a window or start a fire or create destruction in our community.”
Continued Carter: “Just by virtue of being out in that space, just by virtue of being a part of a crowd that the people who hope to destroy our community can hide in, that would be aiding those who seek to destroy our community.”
[image_credit]MinnPost photo by Peter Callaghan[/image_credit][image_caption]St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter said those who start fires are using protestors as “human shields.”[/image_caption]
Flanagan said people should be able to gather and mourn peacefully in the streets, but also that, “In this moment we cannot because there are detractors, there are white supremacists, there are anarchists, there are people who are burning down the institutions that are core to our identity and who we are,” she said, urging people to care for their communities to stay home Saturday night “so that we can remove those folks who are harming us…so that we can remove those folks who are detracting from the memory of George Floyd.”
Justin Terrell, the executive director of the Council for Minnesotans of African Heritage, echoed much of that request, asking people to stay home and take care of each other. “I’m asking you, take the day, check on your people, prepare, pack a bag, protect your home. But do not end up in the crosshairs of an ideological battle that’s got nothing to do with us and never has,” he said. “We are not your pawns.”
Overnight chaos
Walz also conceded that not all the violence has been due to outsiders. The fire that destroyed the Third Police Precinct, for example, was celebrated by many local activists on social media. But Walz said most of the worst violence has been perpetrated by people from out-of-state, and that the presence of those people — using the crowds of demonstrators to blend in after breaking windows and starting fires — made law enforcement and the National Guard unable to respond adequately with what he thought would be a large show of force.
That expanded upon what the governor and Department of Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington had first talked about during an unusual news conference held at 1:30 a.m. Saturday morning.
“This is the largest civilian deployment in Minnesota history that we have out there today and quite candidly, right now, we do not have the numbers,” Walz said. “We cannot arrest people when we’re trying to hold ground because of the sheer size, the dynamics and the wanton violence that’s coming out there.”
Harrington also told the Minneapolis council Saturday the state was too slow in enforcing its curfew. “I really do believe we started our patrols and our being really visible too late,” he said. “It was already dark by the time we had people out into some of these places.”
Examples of such chaos weren’t difficult to find. A fire at a gas station on Lake Street burned while Keaon Dousti, outreach director for Attorney General Keith Ellison, filmed and pleaded for help to prevent the station from exploding. (The fire department eventually intervened.) A Wells Fargo branch on Lake Street burned. Rioters set fire to garbage bins close to homes near the Minneapolis Police Department’s 5th Precinct headquarters, while a nearby apartment building was evacuated as an auto parts store next door caught fire, reported the Star Tribune’s Miguel Otárola.
[image_credit]MinnPost photo by Jana Freiband[/image_credit][image_caption]Residents cleaning up debris on Saturday outside a south Minneapolis O'Reilly Auto Parts store that was destroyed.[/image_caption]
Walz said that demonstrators were blocking semi-trucks on the highway and “raiding what’s in them.”
More violence predicted
At his midmorning press availability, Walz predicted that Saturday night would be worse than anything the city has seen so far. “What you’ve seen previous nights I think will be dwarfed by what they will be tonight,” Walz said. “If you are an innocent bystanding out there tonight, you will be swept up.”
“Let’s be very clear, the situation in Minneapolis is no longer in any way about the murder of George Floyd,” Walz said. “It is about attacking civil society, instilling fear and disrupting our great cities. Last night is a mockery of pretending this is about George Floyd’s death or inequities or historical traumas to our communities of color.”
[image_credit]MinnPost photo by Andy Putz[/image_credit][image_caption]A fire was set in the U.S. Post Office near the Minneapolis Police Fifth Precinct Headquarters.[/image_caption]
First full mobilization of the guard since World War II
The Minnesota National Guard had 700 people Friday night. Together with state troopers and city police, it was the largest contingent deployed in state history. It wasn’t enough; fires went unfought and looting wasn’t challenged. Only hours after violence had started were the combined forces able to clear the way for fire crews, who struggled to quench flames before moving to the next fire.
“The situation was so broad and the tactics were so bent on causing destruction that every single person we had mobilized … was engaged in that,” Walz said.
The force will be substantially increased Saturday, with the first full mobilization of the Minnesota National Guard since World War II.
Walz said people trying to sow chaos and do damage to places in communities of color will face “an overwhelming force.” The adjutant general of the state National Guard, Major General Jon Jensen, said he would have 2,500 guardsmen in the Twin Cities by noon Saturday. “It means we’re all in,” Jensen said.
The state is also in contact with guards from other states and from the U.S. Department of Defense for help, though Walz said the command will remain in control of state governors.
[image_credit]MinnPost photo by Peter Callaghan[/image_credit][image_caption]Major General Jon Jensen said he would have 2,500 guardsmen in the Twin Cities by noon Saturday.[/image_caption]
And while he said he would protect the right to speech and the right to protest, “those rights stop at the end of a Molotov cocktail thrown into an open business.”
And he offered a warning: “Minnesota public safety and Minnesota’s National Guard are gearing up. We’re getting bigger and we are changing our approach because this is intolerable and we are coming to stop it.”
While state leaders pleaded for all to stay home, the message wasn’t embraced by some civil rights activists. Mike Griffin, a senior organizer for Community Change Action, condemned people he believes were outside agitators roaming south Minneapolis on Saturday morning, armed with hammers and oversize bricks.
But Griffin said he and others still plan to peacefully protest because he said it’s the only way people in power will listen to black Minnesotans. He urged arrests of other officers present when Floyd was detained and killed, and he called on Walz to bring forward sweeping policy plans to invest in black communities, reduce economic and educational inequality in the state and change police policies. “We need to change our laws to make sure we are a more equitable Minnesota,” Griffin said. “I can do my job (of organizing) great. I encourage the governor to do his job a little bit better.”
When I was protesting the Iraq war in Chicago, those of us on the street knew that there were outside agitators: they wore frightening Halloween masks, they were using spray paint to put graffiti on public buildings and walls, they were running through crowds and knocking into people regardless of age and condition. They identified as anarchists when questioned, but really, since they weren’t in the training I attended in preparation for the protests and did not follow the rules laid out by the peaceful organizers of the marches, who knows?
According to mainstream local media county arrest records show that the majority of looters are from Minnesota. 70% Kare
38 out of 45 arrested protesters had Minnesota addresses. Not sure where Governor Walz got his information from but so far 80% of those arrested seem to be Minnesotans. There is no doubt professional protestors are coming here to make matters worse but so far Minnesotans are the majority of arrested folks.
Yes there are outside agitators and bad people coming in to take advantage of the situation. However numbers per the media show that as much as it is difficult to accept, many also were from here. I am not a big fan of Rep. Omar, but tonight, she nailed it when she pointed out all the work that has been done in a community already dealing with trauma. For those who need to turn it into a drama series or to make a statement to make themselves feel relevant–where are you day after day on the avenue. If this had been Edina, do you think leaders would have had a ‘let it burn attitude’; recognizing injustices, inequity and trauma does not necessarily mean looking away or enabling.
Who do you think is looking away or enabling? Our leaders are operating without a civilian police force capable of handling the situation without escalating the violence. What do you want them to do? They called in the national guard. They are not an occupying force. Sometimes you let things burn because you have no choice — to me the people looking away and enabling the police all these years are the ones you may want to blame.
Not true. The mayor and the police could’ve done a whole lot more. They called the NG, but did nothing with them. Thats not acceptable, especially for those people who lost everything.
I guess in some fantasy world where there’s no trade off between protecting property and tolerating police violence against black lives that’s true. But we’ve seen journalists and bystanders injured by cops, state police, and probably national guard. I’ll say it again, the professional civilian police force has lost the trust of the city it is there to protect.
If you want to blame the mayor of Minneapolis I am ok with that but, the blame starts over 4 years ago when he voted to keep the insure the police charter amendment off the ballot. The blame probably gots all the way back to the founding of the DFL party to be honest. That’s not a partisan comment by the way. Just a historical fact.
No, i don’t have to accept open and wanton looting just because i acknowledge the other. If you have a complaint against the Police, i’m all ears. However when you validate anything goes because the Police have issues you’ve lost the plot.
If you want to assign blame on the problems in the community, don’t limit it to the Police. Else you’re being plain dishonest.
Also, with respect, George Floyd lost everything. And that guy who got shot by a pawn shop owner. No one else lost “everything.”
Nathan, you are totally wrong. Once the Mayor and Governor finally got their fill of destruction, seen enough businesses burned/looted, saw Minnesotans (Of all colors) running amok in the streets and decided it was no longer about protesting, they enabled the National Guard, police and State troopers to do whatever was needed to stop the anarchy. It worked last night, Minneapolis was not on fire. Do that on the first night and you don’t have 200+ businesses in shambles today
Poor leadership led us to this mess, period!
That’s the excuse of every progressive liberal Democrat mayor in the country. They say these looters came in from out-of-state blah blah blah. Don’t believe that for a minute those looters are your constituents those lueders live in your neighborhoods those looters should be in jail and not given license to do whatever they want to. THEY run your city you don’t run it Mr. Mayor
I thought about a million ways to defend the mayor here and I can’t. I am not going to carry his water.
My only issue with your comment is you seem more outraged by the looting than by the peaceful protestors and journalists injured by police … and of course all the dead black man killed by cops in this metro area alone.
I live on University Avenue in St Paul by the way, so I am putting my safety where my mouth is. I’m more afraid of the police response than I am of looters and arsonists. But I am also a renter, not an owner, not that that should matter but I guess it does when it comes to the tradeoffs we seem to make with black lives.
Before being taken private, Walz’s daughter tweeted in support of rioters and told them the National Guard wouldn’t be in position yet. Does that mean she’s a white supremacist?
Sure sounds like it ..If it is true
..
Should we be surprised that MinnPost did not these outrages numbers that almost every other media reported? Maybe Eric Black will call Walz a Liar – -NOT!
“Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said rough estimates indicate that about 20% of protesters are Minnesotans and about 80% are from outside the region.”
I don’t have any information about outside agitators but I can tell you this: Ever since the Battle in Seattle back in 1999 US law enforcement has had a weird preoccupation with Anarchists. They see Anarchists everywhere and their anxieties regarding Anarchists are almost hysterical.
It is very unlikely that Anarchists (or the new bogeymen- Antifa) have or are playing a significant role in the destruction and violence we’ve seen here in MN. Anarchism isn’t about mayhem and chaos, or looting and arson. it’s actually about social justice and equity. Some Anarchists are willing to move beyond civil disobedience but burning stuff down just to burn it down or looting a Speedway isn’t the strategy.
My prediction is that here, as in 2008 (the Republican convention), we’ll find that a very small number of Anarchists much less Antifa played any significant role in the riots.
And I hate to say it but I wouldn’t put a lot of stock in these “caches” that the cops claim to have found at this point. You may recall that when they “raided” the Anarchist collective in St. Paul back in 2008, they described a bucket of urine (that was part of a zero-waste practice the collective was living) as a “toxic” chemical stockpile.
Not anarchists, 3%ers. Their videos are all over the internet. These people have learned lessons from the past, and won’t be claiming responsibility or any such nonsense. It’s just Charlie Manson’s ideology, such as it can be called one, matriculated over 5 decades and propagated on a plethora of internet fever swamps that even the most dogged investigator won’t ever track down fully. Watch as the rest of country experiences similar events over the next week. They literally want a civil war, and don’t particularly care which side wins, they desire not anarchy, but a failed state in which to rebuild under their own precepts. It’s a strange new world, but to summarily dismiss the claims based on experiences of even the recent past, would be dangerously premature.