Minneapolis — Saturday morning started out cold and quiet on Minneapolis’ “Eating Street,” a stretch of road south of downtown known for its bistros and restaurants ranging from New American to Vietnamese.
Within five hours, everything seemed to have changed. One protester was dead. Videos were circulated showing several federal agents on top of the man and firing shots. Federal and local officials were once again angrily divided over who was to blame.
Eighth Street was the scene of a series of clashes, federal officers, local police and state police withdrew and protesters took over the area.
It all started around 9 a.m. when a federal immigration officer… He shot and killed A man is there, about 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometers) from the scene of the Jan. 7 accident Fatal shooting of a local woman By an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who sparked outrage and Daily protests.
In just over an hour, anger exploded again The city is already on the edge. Even before increased enforcement of existing immigration laws, networks of thousands of residents organized to monitor and denounce them, while national, state, and local leaders traded blame for rising tensions.
Two Associated Press journalists arrived at the scene minutes after the shooting on Saturday. They saw dozens of protesters quickly gather and confront federal agents, many of them blowing the whistles activists use to alert to the presence of federal officers.
They have been covering the protests for days, including Huge Friday afternoon In downtown Minneapolis, but the anger and sadness among Saturday’s crowds seemed more urgent and intense.
The crowd, which quickly swelled to hundreds, shouted insults and obscenities at customers, some of whom responded with sarcasm. Then for several hours, the two groups clashed as tear gas billowed into the subzero air.
Repeatedly, officers pushed protesters away from improvised barricades with the help of grenades and pepper balls, only for the protesters to regroup and regain their positions. About five hours after the shooting, and after another large push into the street, law enforcement officers left in a convoy.
By mid-afternoon, protesters had taken control of the intersection next to the shooting scene and cordoned it off with discarded yellow police tape. Some stood on large metal trash cans that blocked traffic and beat on them, while others gave speeches at the increasingly improvised memorial to his memory. Alex Pretty, 37 years old, The man was killed Saturday morning.
People brought tree branches in a circle to encircle the area while others placed flowers and candles on the memorial next to a snow bank.
Many carried handwritten signs demanding that Immigration and Customs Enforcement leave Minnesota immediately, using slurs against Immigration and Customs Enforcement that had been plastered across the Twin Cities for more than weeks.
The prevailing mood among the crowd was one of widespread anger and sadness, which brought to mind the same wave of anger that rocked the city for weeks after the murder. George Floyd in 2020although no large-scale riots occurred at that time.
Law enforcement was not visibly present in the buildings immediately surrounding the shooting scene, despite several agencies mobilizing and the National Guard announcing it would also help provide security there.
At an afternoon news conference, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said his officers and Minnesota National Guard members wearing yellow traffic vests were working to keep the area around the shooting safe and avoid traffic interference with “legitimate and peaceful demonstrations.” No traffic except residents was allowed in a 6×7 area around the accident site.
Shops, sports and cultural institutions were closed on Saturday afternoon for security reasons. Some remained open to give protesters a break from the dangerous cold, providing water, coffee, snacks and hand-warming packs.
After evening fell, a somber crowd numbering in the hundreds stood near the memorial.
“It feels like something crazier happens every day,” Caleb Spike said. “What comes next? I don’t know what the solution is.”