Over 60 arrested during second night of riots in Minnesota
Annaliese Levy
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Minnesota police officers arrested over 60 protesters and looters as unrest continued for a second night after the deadly shooting of 20-year-old Daunte Wright during a traffic stop in Brooklyn Center, Minn.
Arrests were made for rioting, curfew violations and other criminal behavior, Minnesota State Patrol Colonel Matt Langer said in a news conference early Wednesday morning.
“The behaviors that we continue to see are unacceptable and we are not going to tolerate them,” Langer said. “It is not acceptable and it will not be tolerated if you choose to do criminal activity and destroy property and throw objects and make it unsafe for people to come and exercise their First Amendment rights.”
Authorities fired multiple rounds of tear gas, along with rubber bullets and flash grenades to attempt to disperse the crowd.
Protestors retaliated by throwing water bottles, bricks and setting off fireworks.
“Unfortunately again, some citizens decided to come out and throw these bricks and these other items at law enforcement and this type of behavior is not acceptable and we’re just, quite frankly, not going to tolerate it,” Booker Hodges, an assistant commissioner for the Minnesota Department for Public Safety, said.
Looters broke into several businesses in the Brooklyn Center and surrounding areas, including a Dollar Tree that was completely destroyed, where flames were later spotted.
Fox News reporter Mike Tobin said many of the protestors identified themselves as Antifa.
“On Sunday night it was all about the locals that were here and they were genuine and they were angry. As it goes on, you get more people coming in from out of town,” Tobin told Laura Ingraham. “I had a lot of people – several people I spoke with tonight – who identified themselves as Antifa and angrily so.”
13 people were arrested in the surrounding city of Minneapolis, according to Minneapolis Deputy Police Chief Amelia Huffman. Four of those arrests were for burglaries related to looting, two were suspects in shots-fired incidents, six were for curfew violations and one was on an outstanding warrant, the Star Tribune reported. Five businesses, including a Target that was trashed last year after the fatal arrest of George Floyd, a liquor store and a shoe store, were targeted by looting, she said.
Duante Wright was allegedly shot and killed by a Minnesota police officer during a traffic stop Sunday.
The officer resigned Tuesday, as well as the city’s police chief — moves that the mayor said he hoped would help heal the community and lead to reconciliation after two nights of protests and unrest.
Follow Annaliese Levy on Twitter @AnnalieseLevy
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