2020–2021 Minneapolis–Saint Paul racial unrest

Protesters marching in Minneapolis on May 26, 2020, the day after Floyd's death. A protester's sign reads, "Justice for George Floyd" and "#I CANT BREATHE".

Protests began in Minneapolis on May 26, the day after the killing of George Floyd and when a video of the incident had circulated widely in the media. By mid day, people had gathered by the thousands at the location of Floyd's death and set up a makeshift memorial.[10][11] Organizers of the rally emphasized keeping the protest peaceful.[12] Protesters and Floyd's family demanded that all four officers at the scene of his arrest and death be charged with murder and that judicial consequences were swift.[13][14] That evening, the protest rally turned into a march to the Minneapolis Police Department's third precinct station where the officers were believed to work. After the main protest group disbanded, a small skirmish the night of May 26 resulted in minor property damage at the station and the police firing tear gas at demonstrators.[11][12][7][5]

Protests were held at several locations throughout the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area in subsequent days. The situation escalated the nights of May 27 to 29 where widespread arson, rioting, and looting took place, which were noted as a contrast to daytime protests that were characterized as mostly peaceful events.[5] Some initial acts of property destruction on May 27 by a 32-year-old man with ties to white supremacist organizations, who local police investigators said was deliberately inciting racial tension, led to a chain reaction of fires and looting.[15] The unrest, including demonstrators overtaking the Minneapolis third precinct police station and setting it on fire the night of May 28, garnered significant national and international media attention.[7] After state officials mobilized Minnesota National Guard troops in its largest deployment since World War II,[16][17] the violent unrest subsided and mostly peaceful protests resumed.[7] However, the violence had resulted in two deaths,[18][19] 617 arrests,[20][21] and upwards of $500 million in property damage to 1,500 locations, making it the second-most destructive period of local unrest in United States history, after the 1992 Los Angeles riots.[6][22][23][21]

George Floyd Square, August 2020

On May 26, the day after George Floyd's death, an occupation protest emerged at the East 38th Street and Chicago Avenue intersection in Minneapolis of the arrest incident.[24][25] Protesters turned the area into a makeshift memorial and erected barricades to keep automobile traffic out, and police officers largely avoided the area in the following months. Thousands of visitors protested and grieved at the site, which was adorned with public art installments and described as like a "shrine".[26] When Minneapolis city officials attempted to negotiate the re-opening of the intersection in August 2020, protesters demanded that the city meet a list of 24 demands before removing cement barricades around the intersection.[27] The Minneapolis Planning Commission recommend to the city council that the length of Chicago Avenue between 37th and 39th streets be named as “George Perry Floyd Jr Place”[28] and the city designated the intersection as one of seven cultural districts in the city.[29] The city also allocated $4.7 million to establish a permanent memorial at the site, though by the end of 2020, the city was unable to reach agreement with community organizations who had presented officials with a list of demands before opening the intersection back up.[30][31] The situation was ongoing in January 2021.[32][33]

The initial unrest over the killing of George Floyd had impact on people experiencing homelessness. Some who were displaced by the unrest sought refuge in a vacant Sheraton hotel in the city's Midtown neighborhood. Volunteers helped turn it into a what was described as functioning hotel and sanctuary for nearly 200 people.[34] The situation in the hotel, however, descended into chaos with extensive vandalism, rampant drug use, and violence. Residents at the hotel were evicted on June 9, and some set up a sprawling camp at the city's Powderhorn Park.[35][36]

A "defund police" rally at Powderhorn Park, June 7, 2020

Protesters over the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and elsewhere began calling for reforms of the police forces, including the defunding, downsizing, or abolishing traditional police departments. thousands of protesters marched in Minneapolis on June 6, 2020, in an event led by local organization Black Visions Collective.[37] The marched ended at the home of Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey. The crowd demanded that he come outside, and then when Frey appeared asked if he supported abolishing the city's police force. After Frey responded that he did not, the crowd ordered him to leave and booed him away.[38][39][37] On June 7, 2020, at a Powderhorn Park rally organized by Black Visions Collective and several other black-led social justice organizations, nine of the 13 members of the Minneapolis City Council vowed before a large crowd to dismantle the city's police department.[40][41] Activists that organized the rally wanted to replace the police department with unarmed public safety responders, but concrete details about it were less defined.[42][43]

A demonstrator raises a fist next to the empty pedestal, June 10, 2020

An American Indian Movement group tore down a statue of Christopher Columbus outside the state capitol building in Saint Paul on June 10 as the global protest movement turned towards removing monuments and memorials with controversial legacies.[44] Members of the American Indian Movement, led by Mike Forcia of the Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians, announced via social media their intentions to topple the statue earlier in the day. State Patrol troopers and a Department of Public Safety tribal liaison met with organizers prior to the event,[45] encouraging them to follow a legal process for removal[46] and warning them that they could face charges for destruction of public property.[45][46] Forcia countered that they had already waited far too long, having worked through official channels for years without success.[45][46][47] American Indian Movement members and other demonstrators, including Dakota and Ojibwe community members,[45] looped a rope around the statue and pulled it off its granite pedestal. The group drummed, sang songs, and took photos with the fallen statue. No one was arrested at the event. State Patrol troopers watched from a distance and did not intervene.[46] Troopers eventually formed a line to protect the statue before it was transported offsite.[45] In December, Michael Forcia of Ramsey County agreed to a plea deal and accepted 100 hours in community service in connection with the incident. Officials estimated the cost to repair the statute would be over $154,000.[48]

A protester holds a sign at the Minneapolis police federation on June 12, 2020

The Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis, the union representing Minneapolis Police Department officers, and its elected leader were the subject of several protest events. Protesters gathered at the Police Officers Federation building in Minneapolis on June 12 to demand the resignation of Bob Kroll, head of the city's police union, who had characterized the protests and Black Lives Matter as a "terrorist organization". Thousands of people stretched in every direction from the federation building and listened to speeches by community leaders.[49][50] Protesters returned on June 25. Kroll had earlier said he would not step down from the post. Protesters said they would continue protesting until their demands were met.[51]

A protest group gathered at the Hennepin County Government Center on June 12 to demand Freeman's resignation over his handling of previous officer-involved shootings in Minneapolis, such as the case involving the shooting of Jamar Clark and prosecution of former police officer Mohamed Noor in the shooting of Justine Damond.[50] A group also launched a petition drive to have Freeman recalled.[52]

In June, George Floyd protests in Minneapolis–Saint Paul broadened to issues of historic racism and police brutality, with events occurring nearly each day. Protesters gathered outside the governor's mansion in Saint Paul on June 24 and called on the governor to reconvene the legislature in a special session for the purpose of passing police reform measures. Lawmakers had recently adjourned a special session without agreeing to legislation on the topic.[53]

Juneteenth march in north Minneapolis, June 19, 2020

On June 19, dozens of Juneteenth commemorations were held in the Twin Cities metropolitan area, including in Minneapolis near the former third precinct station and at the location where Floyd died. Participants at the events connected recent instances of police brutality to the historic legacy of slavery in the United States.[54] The Minnesota Black Lives Matter chapter that rallied at the state capitol building in Saint Paul called on state lawmakers who were meeting in a special legislative session to agree on police reform measures.[55] Governor Walz issued a proclamation declaring it Juneteenth Day in Minnesota and encouraged the state legislature to make it a state holiday.[54]

The Minnesota Twins removed the statute of former owner Calvin Griffith outside the team's Target Field baseball stadium in Minneapolis on June 19. In a statement, the team said the "statue reflects an ignorance on our part of systemic racism present in 1978, 2010 and today". Griffith's legacy was tarnished after racist comments he made in a 1978 speech at the Waseca Lions Club, but a statute of him was placed in the stadium's plaza when it opened in 2010.[56][57]

A Breonna Taylor cardboard cutout at a rally at the state capitol building in Saint Paul, June 2020

Protesters seeking justice for Breonna Taylor held a "Red Sunday" march on June 26 and gathered at several locations in the Twin Cities.[58]

Despite cancellation of official Twin Cities Pride event, protesters on June 28 gathered in downtown Minneapolis and called for justice for Floyd, greater protections for black transgender people, community control of policing, and the freeing of "political prisoners".[59] Restrictions on public gatherings due to the COVID-19 pandemic prevented organizers from holding a more celebratory event of LGBTQ+ people as in past years, which had been among the most well-attended Pride parade events in the United States.[60] The 2020 Pride parade in the Twin Cities intersected with the Black Lives Matter movement and returned to the way it began, as a protest movement.[61]

On June 30, several hundred protesters from Minnesota's Oromo diaspora gathered outside the Minnesota state capitol building in Saint Paul to protest the killing of Hachalu Hundessa, a popular musician and political activist who was shot and killed in Addis Ababa on June 28, resulting in considerable unrest in Ethiopia. In the evening of July 1, hundreds of protesters blocked Interstate 94 in Minneapolis to call for justice for Hundessa and the Oromo people.[62]

Thousands took part in several peaceful demonstrations in Minneapolis and called for racial equity and justice for George Floyd on July 4. Organizers of two marches, dubbed "Black 4th", through predominately white areas of the city sought to continue the momentum for police reform and raise awareness about social justice issues.[63][64]

Four years after the shooting of Philando Castile by a police officer in the Twin Cities' suburb of St. Anthony, several Black Lives Matter rallies were held on July 6 that commemorated Castile and connected it to the global protest movement about racism and police brutality sparked by Floyd's death.[65]

Protesters at the boarded-up Cadillac Pawn shop in Minneapolis, July 21, 2020

On May 27, during unrest over the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Calvin Horton Jr., a 43-year-old man from Minneapolis, was fatally shot by the owner of the Cadillac Pawn & Jewelry shop who believed he was burglarizing his business. The incident took place on East Lake Street about one mile (1.6 km) from the main protest sites.[66][67] The shop owner was arrested the night of the shooting and held in Hennepin County Jail for several days, but he was released pending further investigation.[68] There were no new developments in the case by July 21, 2020, when family and supporters of Horton, Jr. protested outside the store and demanded the owner be charged with murder.[68] In December 2020, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman's office declined to file charges against the pawn shop owner after a six-month investigation due to a lack of evidence to prove the shooting was not self-defense.[69]

Encampment in Powderhorn Park, July 20, 2020.

A sprawling encampment at Powderhorn Park generated controversy as it grew to 560 tents by mid July.[35] Numerous sexual assaults, fights, and drug use at the encampment generated alarm for nearby residents. The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board later cleared the park of people living in tents, but voted to create a permitting process to make homeless encampments a permanent fixture at 20 city parks with up to 25 tents each.[70] The city had made a push to connect people experiencing homeless with services, including establishing three new shelters, and shelter beds remained available. But officials adopted a de-escalation for disbanding camps due to the ongoing civil unrest, and when they attempted to remove tents at non-permitted sites, they faced opposition from a sanctuary movement and protest groups.[71]

The situation quickly grew out of the control of park board officials. Said Park Board Commissioner LaTrisha Vetaw, “We are outside of our wheelhouse. I have visited multiple sanctuary sites. I have been offered drugs. I have been offered money for sex. I have watched an overdose happen. I’ve seen things that I’m not even sure of what they were.”[72] Encampments spread to nearly 40 park sites during the summer. Officials attempted to disband encampments before freezing weather, but 53 tents remained at three encampments by early December as some encampment residents declined available shelter space.[73]

The park board closed the last remaining encampment, at Minnehaha Park, on January 3, 2021, and reiterated its position that "parks do not provide dignified shelter". Three people died in encampments in Minneapolis city parks in 2020.[74] The body of another man that showed signs of trauma was recovered in a tent at Minnehaha Park on January 3, 2021, whose death was believed to be suspicious, possibly marking the first homicide in the city in 2021.[75]

On July 23, Minnesotans gathered at a federal courthouse and marched through downtown Minneapolis in opposition to the deployment of federal troops to protests in Portland, Oregon.[76]

A 100-person protest group led by Nekima Levy Armstrong's Racial Justice Network gathered outside Kroll's home in Hugo, Minnesota on August 15 to call for his resignation from the Minneapolis police union. Protesters also criticized Kroll's partner, WCCO television reporter Liz Collins, for having a conflict of interest in stories about police violence. Remarks by John Thompson, a Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor candidate for the state legislature from St. Paul, drew controversy. Thompson said in his speech, "You think we give a [expletive] about burning Hugo down?" and also "[Expletive] Hugo." Some of Thompson's remarks were said to be directed at children who were present. The event also featured the bashing of piñata effigies of Kroll and Collins. Several local media members condemned the symbolic display of violence against a woman journalist. Inflammatory rhetoric at the event was also condemned by leaders of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor and Republican parties, and led to an apology statement from the Thompson.[77][9][78]

Late at night in Minneapolis on August 15, a group of approximately 50 people marched to the city's fifth police precinct station in what was initially described as a peaceful protest, but it became violent when people threw rocks at windows, threw paint on the building, and shot commercial-grade fireworks at police officers, before fleeing the scene. In statements, Mayor Frey and Minneapolis City Council Vice President Andrew Jenkins said that the destruction was not the solution to issues surrounding policing.[8]

On August 23, Jacob Blake, an African-American man, was shot four times in the back during an arrest by police officer Rusten Sheskey.[79][80] The incident occurred in Kenosha, Wisconsin as police officers were attempting to arrest Blake. In reaction to the incident, protests and unrest occurred in Wisconsin and other places in the United States. On August 24 in Minneapolis, a 100-person protest over Blake's shooting took place in the city's downtown area, and after the main protest group disbanded, some protesters became violent and broke windows and threatened to breach a jail facility, resulting in 11 arrests.[81] One Minneapolis police officer suffered a broken hand during a confrontation with a demonstrator.[82]

Hennepin County sheriff officers on patrol after looting and vandalism, August 27, 2020

Rooting and looting in downtown Minneapolis came as reaction to false rumors that Eddie Sole Jr., a 38 year old African American man, had been shot and killed by Minneapolis police officers on August 26.[83] Surveillance video showed that Sole Jr. had died by suicide, a self-inflicted gunshot to the head, during a manhunt for a homicide suspect in which he was the person of interest as police officers closed in to arrest him after a foot chase.[84] Controversially, the police released the CCTV camera footage of the suicide in attempts to stop the unrest.[85] Overnight destruction from August 26 to 27 reached a total of 72 property locations in Minneapolis and four locations in neighboring Saint Paul. In Minneapolis, four businesses were set on fire, including a downtown restaurant and three other businesses located miles away from the city's downtown area.[86] State and local officials arrested a total of 132 people during the unrest.[87] Minnesota Governor Tim Walz declared a state of emergency and deployed National Guard troops, and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey imposed on overnight curfew. [88] Nearly 1,000 members of law enforcement and 400 Minnesota National Guard troops amassed in the metro area to prevent more lawlessness, and calmness prevailed after August 27.[89][90]

Two years after a large camp was disbanded near Hiawatha and Franklin avenues in Minneapolis, on September 3 a group backed by protesters and American Indian Movement advocates re-occupied a site they referred to as the Wall of Forgotten Natives. The site had been barricaded by the state in 2018 when an encampment closed after experiencing drug overdoses, spread of disease, violence, fires, and deaths. In September 2020, reoccupation of the encampment with 40 tents came after the city closed another encampment on 13th Avenue due to health and safety concerns and after officials sought help from nonprofit organizations. Reestablishment of the Hiawatha encampment also came during time of increasing confrontation between Minneapolis officials and homeless advocates, as the city had hoped to close all encampments by October.[71]

After the third precinct station burned down during the late May riots, police officers worked out the convention center in downtown Minneapolis.[91] In August, officials pursued a lease agreement for a temporary police station at a privately owned building on Minnehaha Avenue in the Seward neighborhood. A neighborhood group that supported the police abolition movement pushed back against the city and organized a "Blocked the Precinct Block party" protest rally near the site.[92] The city's lease agreement fell apart in September after opposition from community groups and threats of violence against the property owner and police officers. Police investigated threats to burn the property down and the building was tagged with anti-police graffiti, including a call for “the literal deaths of individual police officers”.[91]

In October 7, protesters took to the streets and held rallies at several places in Minneapolis to express anger over the release of former Minneapolis Police Department officer Derek Chauvin on bail. Chauvin was the officer who knelt on George Floyd’s neck for several minutes as he suffocated and died on May 25. Chauvin was later arrested and charged with murder in connection with the incident, but he posted $1 million bail for his release pending trial. Governor Walz sent 100 National Guardsmen, as well as 100 state police troops and 75 conservation officers, to keep the peace.[93] Law enforcement made 51 arrests late at night on October 7, of which 49 were for misdemeanor offences such as unlawful assembly, one arrest for assault, and one arrest for having an outstanding felony warrant.[94]

An armed police officer during protests on November 3, 2020

Several business in Minneapolis and Saint Paul boarded up windows and doors on November 3 preparing for possible unrest related to the election. Some of the businesses had suffered damages during the aftermath of George Floyd's death, and wanted to be prepared for the possibility of further unrest. The Minnesota National Guard was placed on standby and police forces in the two cities activated extra staff.[95] A group of demonstrators marching behind an "America is Over" banner made their way through Uptown in Minneapolis late at night on Tuesday. Minneapolis police officers kept their distance as the group blocked several intersections, spray painted storefronts, and threw traffic signs and debris into the street. When protesters shot fireworks at officers and refused to disburse, the police advanced and made 14 arrests for suspicion of rioting and fourth-degree assault. No injuries were reported.[96]

Protesters on Interstate 94 in Minneapolis on November 4, 2020.

On November 4, several social justice organizations converged for protest marches through Minneapolis with the mantra, “Don’t Let Trump Steal the Election”. After marching through downtown, protesters marched onto Interstate 94. As demonstrators attempted to exit the highway, Minneapolis police and Minnesota state patrol troops kettled and arrested 646 people for public nuisance and unlawful assembly, blocking traffic for several hours. Most of those arrested were cited and released.[97] A 19-year-old woman from Golden Valley was charged with felony second-degree riot for pointing a laser in a police officer's eyes, and a 29-year-old woman from Minneapolis was charged with fourth-degree assault and obstructing the legal process for kicking a police officer.[98]

In the early morning hours of November 26, a statute of George Washington at Washburn Fair Oaks Park in Minneapolis was toppled and defaced with anticolonial graffiti. A few miles away at BF Nelson Park, a monument depicting three generations of pioneers was spray painted with the words “no thanks”, “no more genocide”, “decolonize”, and “land back”. The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board said they were investigating the incidents, but were aware of the controversy about the historic context of the statutes. The vandalism came six months after a protest group toppled a Christopher Columbus statue outside the Minnesota state capitol building in Saint Paul.[99]

Protests emerged the evening of December 30 after police shot and killed a man at a Holiday gas station near the intersection Cedar Avenue and East 36th Street in Minneapolis who was later identified as Dolal Idd. The shooting happened at approximately 6:15 p.m. less than a one mile (1.6 km) from the location where George Floyd was killed in May[100] and it was the first fatal police shooting in the city since then.[101] Few details were known about the shooting incident as approximately 100 protesters gathered at the scene. Some protesters shouted expletives and threw snowballs at police officers. Officers prepared to use pepper spray if assaulted by demonstrators. By late evening, the scene was more calm as protesters blocked an intersection and built a bonfire.[102] Several people attended a vigil on December 31 near the intersection of Cedar Avenue and East 36th Street for Idd and other victims of police violence.[101]

Minneapolis police officers on duty during protests in the early morning hours of January 1, 2021.

Seventy-five demonstrators gathered in downtown Minneapolis on December 31 to protest police brutality. Police learned of the rally from a social media posting calling on people to wear black clothing and masks and to help "burn the precincts & the prisons". From the downtown area, demonstrators walked to Commons Park near U.S. Bank Stadium, where police observed the group shooting fireworks at motorists, painting graffiti on the walls of local government buildings, and disrupting traffic.[103] That night, authorities gave orders for a crowd to disperse, but some people refused to leave. At least 15 people were detained for allegedly rioting and 21 people were cited and released.[104] Five people were charged with felony riot and for being armed with a dangerous weapon.[103]

The demonstration was scheduled several weeks prior and was unrelated to the killing of Dolal Idd in Minneapolis on December 30.[104]

Protest at Cedar Avenue and East 36th Street in Minneapolis, January 3, 2021.

As many as 1,000 protesters on January 3, 2021, marched peacefully in south Minneapolis to express outrage over the killing of Dolal Idd by Minneapolis police and a controversial search of the Idd family home by the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office.[105]

Several hundred people gathered in downtown Minneapolis on January 9, 2021, to protest racial injustice at a rally that featured speeches, hand-drawn signs, and chats. Protesters connected Dolal Idd's death on December 30, 2020, to George Floyd and Jacob Blake, a black man shot and wounded by Kenosha, Wisconsin police in 2020. The week prior to the downtown Minneapolis gathering, a Wisconsin prosecutor declined to press charges against the police officer that shot Blake, which protesters at the rally objected to.[106]

Protesters then marched from the Hennepin County Government Center to the Minneapolis Police Department's first precinct station for more speeches and chants. The protest group expressed outrage over the mob that stormed the United States Capitol building on January 6, 2021, and speakers contrasted the recent police-related homicides in Minneapolis to the mob of apparent white supremacists that overwhelmed Capitol police in Washington, D.C. who took little action to stop them.[106]

On the day of the presidential inauguration of Joe Biden, nearly 120 members of several progressive organizations held a peaceful rally in Minneapolis to pressure the incoming Biden administration to commit to several left-wing policy positions during its first 100 days in office, such as to reverse Trump administration policies affecting immigrant and minority communities. Protesters gathered at South High School and marched along Lake Street past the Minneapolis Police Department's third precinct building that was set on fire in May 2020 after George Floyd's death.[107] The day's events were organized by the local Black Lives Matter chapter and other social justice organizations. The groups demands also included dropping criminal charges against people who were prosecuted during the 2020 George Floyd protests in Minneapolis–Saint Paul and the 600 people who were arrested on November 4, 2020, for blocking traffic on Interstate 94.[108][109]