Curfew in MN Cities Fails to Prevent Another Night of Fires

MINNEAPOLIS — Heaping furious, violent contempt on an 8 p.m. curfew, rioters rampaged across much of Minneapolis for a fourth night Friday, setting towering fires, looting businesses and firing shots at police officers, all in response to the death of a black man under a white police officer’s knee on Monday.

By all accounts, law enforcement presence was almost undetectable until just before midnight, when hundreds of police officers, state troopers and National Guard troops, accompanied by armored vehicles, fanned out into troubled areas, confronting rioters with tear gas and orders to disperse.

And yet, those efforts had notably little effect, and questions swirled about how such a dire situation has developed in a long peaceable city. The fresh violence came even on the heels of charges against Derek Chauvin, the police officer suspected in the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man being detained on suspicion of passing a counterfeit bill.

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The intense new violence occurred after many businesses and public structures had been boarded up and fortified in preparation for yet another night of violent demonstrations against police brutality.

At midnight, as helicopters rattled above Minneapolis and smoke blanketed the shellshocked city, major fires were reported near the Minneapolis Police Department’s Fifth Precinct headquarters at Nicollet Avenue and 31st Street, including one at the U.S. Post Office on Nicollet, a Wells Fargo Bank, a Stop-and-Go and at a Shell gas station on Park Avenue and Lake Street. There was concern that accelerants at the gas station could explode, and onlookers scattered and ducked. Fire officials said they could not get to many sites without security.

Authorities also reported that shots had been fired at officers in the area, but there were no reports of injuries.

A Minneapolis police officer also fired into a car that barreled into a group of officers in downtown Minneapolis late Friday, but no one was hit.

Law enforcement moved en masse into the area just before midnight, trying to push back crowds of energetic protesters. At the same time, in a rare move, the Pentagon announced that it had put the military on alert in case it was needed in Minneapolis.

The continued destruction raised major questions about the presence and strategy of law enforcement and the National Guard, which Gov. Tim Walz called in Thursday to help keep the peace. Just before midnight Friday, far more Guard and police officers began to show up at hot spots.

Sen. Paul Gazelka, the state Senate’s majority leader, criticized Walz anew for what he called a lack of leadership. He was among many GOP political leaders, including President Donald Trump, who have weighed in to decry the situation and the leadership of Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey.

Walz tweeted late Friday that law enforcement was being deployed en masse to trouble spots. The Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association quickly replied that its members did not have nearly the amount of resources needed to address the severity of the crisis, and called for more leadership on his part.

At Minneapolis’ Third Precinct police headquarters, which was torched early Friday, State Patrol troopers fired tear gas at protesters just before the curfew took effect, but later, cars burned not far away and there appeared to be no presence of law enforcement or firefighters.

Downtown, a few officers on bicycles didn’t interfere with a roaming protest, which grew after the 8 p.m. curfew and passed the First Precinct police station without stopping before it made its way onto Interstate 35W. According to MnDOT traffic cameras, protesters later set a bonfire in the southbound lanes just south of Washington Avenue.

At the Fifth Precinct in south Minneapolis, 350 officers moved into the area just before midnight, pushing back demonstrators. Several officers stood on top of the building watching the mostly peaceful crowd, which was chanting and holding signs. Meanwhile, a nearby Sprint Store, Office Max and convenience store were looted. Near midnight, police officers and National Guard troops were moving into the area.

Late Friday, fires were also burning at businesses on W. Broadway. Smoke filled the North Side as firefighters extinguished a blaze at what was once a barbershop at the intersection of N. 26th Avenue. Onlookers watched calmly as police officers also stood by. The scene was peaceful, and at nearby Fourth Precinct headquarters, the site of many demonstrations in months past, things were peaceful.

Fire department assistant chief of operations Bryan Tyner said late Friday night that they were responding to fires throughout the city but “we are not able to respond to sites until the scene can be secured.”

According to emergency dispatch audio, shots were fired shortly after 8 p.m. at a group of law enforcement personnel on Hiawatha Avenue before two men in white shirts ran away on E. 32nd Street. It was unclear what authority reported the shots fired. They immediately began to retreat.

“Hey guys, east of us is starting to go,” a man said referring to a fire in the area. “We don’t have a lot of (expletive) out here. Let’s keep going. Grab you guys’ stuff, grab you guys’ people. Let’s get out of here.”

“Let’s get the (expletive) out of here. … If you don’t have a car, get in one. Let’s go. Right now.”

Some leaders had hoped for a reprieve from unruly demonstrations after authorities announced around midday that fired Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin had been arrested and was charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. Video taken Monday night showed Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck for more than 81/2 minutes, while Floyd fell unresponsive and was later pronounced dead.

Near the burned Third Precinct police building, many in a crowd of hundreds took a knee with their fists in the air. Some in the crowd said they wouldn’t abide by the curfew unless all four officers at the scene of Floyd’s death were arrested and charged.

“They can’t arrest us all,”some protesters said. But when the tear gas was launched, many fled the area.

Cousins Thomas Mante and DeWayne Counce, who are black, stood on the corner of Lake Street and S. 22nd Avenue on Friday evening as several demonstrators stood in front of a line of National Guardsmen and vehicles parked across Lake Street. “It’s a humanity thing,” Counce said. “People are fed up,” Mante said.

The two said they’re glad Chauvin was arrested and charged but said the third-degree murder count was too low. “They’re basically saying it wasn’t intentional,” Counce said. They want to see the other three former officers charged with murder, too.

As he urged peaceful protest earlier in the day, Gov. Walz acknowledged Minnesota’s deep-rooted inequity and called for new measures to ensure change this time, after little changed so many times before.

“I’m asking you to help us, help us use a humane way to get the streets to a place where we can restore justice, so that those that are expressing rage and anger and demanding justice are heard,” he said. “Not those who throw firebombs into businesses.”

Staff writers Ryan Faircloth, Liz Sawyer, Briana Bierschbach, Chao Xiong and Paul Walsh contributed to this report.

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