I've seen too much misunderstanding and off-the-wall speculation about the whole "outside agitator" stuff in Minneapolis and St. Paul going around DU, that I really hope DUers will take the time to read this piece.
As a Minnesota resident who has been continuously glued to all the local TV coverage since Friday, as well as monitoring local Twitter feeds directly from the communities involved, this article is the most accurate accounting of the "outside agitator" phenomenon that I've come across, so far:
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2020/05/30/outsiders-extremists-are-among-those-fomenting-violence-in-twin-cities
The killing of George Floyd
Outsiders, extremists are among those fomenting violence in Twin Cities
Jon Collins and Elizabeth Shockman
May 30, 2020 3:17 p.m.
Updated: 8:34 a.m., May 31, 2020
On his way home from a protest Friday night in Minneapolis, Jonathan Turner Bargen encountered a white man in a red pickup truck. The man was carrying an assault rifle and a handgun, Turner Bargen said. Then he noticed a symbol from the far-right militia group Three Percenters affixed to the truck.
“I circled back and took pictures of the vehicle. I was concerned about why they were present at the downtown protest, and had no idea who to notify,” said Turner Bargen in an email to MPR News.
<snip>
Accounts of armed men
Protesters and onlookers have posted numerous videos and accounts of confrontations with white men on social media, sometimes including symbols associated with fringe groups that originated online.
Many people have also told MPR News reporters of witnessing armed men in Minneapolis.
Bridget Schumann was out for a run near Calhoun Square in south Minneapolis on Friday night when she saw a truck that was being driven aggressively, honking and intimidating other drivers. The truck had a big white sticker on the back of the cab with the OK sign symbol associated with white supremacists.
“There were two men in the driver and passenger seat and they were wearing camo bulletproof vests and they were armed,” she said.
<snip>
In the predawn hours of Friday, KJ Starr watched from her yard in the Seward neighborhood, which has been especially hard hit by arson, as nearby buildings were consumed by balls of fire and billowing smoke.
With police and firefighters nowhere in sight, Starr and friends have been trying to fight fires themselves. When a nearby pizza shop went up in flames, she and some friends walked over to see what they could do. She was terrified by what she saw.
“This pickup truck of a dozen armed men just pulls up next to us,” she said. “I just did a total pivot.”
Arson at a liquor store
Minneapolis resident Rishi Ragoonanan woke up early for work on Friday morning, and saw a man who appeared to be white walk up to boxes of cardboard in the middle of a liquor store parking lot. The man lit the boxes, pushed them up against the wall of the store, and walked away.
Ragoonanan and neighbors ran outside and dragged the flaming boxes away from the wall. The liquor store was set on fire again the next night.
“None of us got any sleep for the last four days, trying to save this liquor store,” Ragoonanan said. “If this liquor catches fire, this whole neighborhood will burn down.”
Many people say they are leery of confronting those they suspect of contributing to the violence.
<snip>
‘They’re setting these fires’
People attending protests against police brutality have had run-ins as well.
DeVario Bogenholm, a 23-year-old who’s lived in Minneapolis for most of his life, blames outsiders, who are mostly white, for turning peaceful protests violent Friday night. He turned to Facebook to post a
video of him and a friend confronting a group of young, white men who were smashing out storefront windows.
“Who’s destroying these buildings? These white dudes and we’re stopping them,” his friend, Noah Saba, said to the camera, then waved the phone to show footage of a group of white men on bicycles in front of a group of vandalized and burning buildings, “They’re setting these fires.”
...Bogenholm said the video doesn’t fully capture the mob, with people of color largely at the back of the crowd and young white men initiating the damage to buildings.
<snip>
Hundreds of buildings across the Twin Cities have been damaged in the riots.
A native youth cultural center, neighborhood bars and a building full of artist studios (my bold) are among the structures that have been set on fire.
Minneapolis City Council member Jeremiah Ellison spent Friday night driving around his ward to ensure people stayed safe. He said property destruction at protests, which he doesn’t support, normally is focused on symbols of power like police cars.
“When you see no protest, there’s no mob sweeping through the north side, yet you see these fires popping up the main business corridor, that’s the thing that rang odd to me,” Ellison said. “Burning down small black- and immigrant-owned businesses, that doesn’t seem in lockstep with the tone of the protests.”
<snip>
Alexia Kelsey went out to the protest site Friday to help clean. She said the hair on the back of her neck rose after she saw a vehicle carrying two armed white men that had a bumper sticker associated with neo-Nazis.
“As a white ally, it’s even more important to support the black community and provide a unified front,” Kelsey said. “It’s tough because it seems like they’re using the opportunity of the cover of night to really ignite the violence.”
<snip>
“This is no longer about protesting,” said {Minneapolis Mayor, Jacob} Frey. “This is no longer about verbal expression. This is about violence, and we need to make sure that it stops.”
{St. Paul Mayor, Melvin} Carter said that the outside agitators are using peaceful protesters as a “human shield,” committing acts of destruction and violence and then melting back into the crowd.
{Minnesota Governor, Tim} Walz urged Minnesotans to abide by curfews.
“If you’re out after 8 o’clock, you are aiding and abetting them and you are giving them the cover that they want,” Walz said.
