Minneapolis PD Fails To Arrest 'Protesters' as City Asks Rioters To Social Distance
Remember when any sort of demonstration was simply too dangerous to have, no matter what the social and economic damage that the coronavirus pandemic lockdowns might be causing?
Remember how these protesters were putting themselves and others at risk?
Remember how even drive-in church services were dangerous?
Yes, well, enough of that nonsense. The George Floyd case has caused protests all over these United Sates and, well, all of that’s out the window. But you should be social distancing, everybody!
Now, the death of George Floyd is horrifying and tragic. There are few among us who aren’t outraged over what happened Monday in Minneapolis, where Floyd died after a police officer allegedly kept his knee on Floyd’s neck for roughly nine minutes.
However, we’ve long been told that any kind of protest was verboten because of, well, the fact we’ve shut down our country due to the novel coronavirus.
While police across the country have been more than willing to use draconian tactics on those protesting lockdown orders, however, mayors are significantly less willing to put the same kind of measures in place when it comes to protesters — or “protesters” — angry about Floyd’s death.
In the city in which George Floyd died, Democratic Mayor Jacob Frey has led the way in bulldozing through those taboos against protesting en masse.
“What we’ve seen over the last two days and the emotion-ridden conflict over last night is the result of so much built-up anger and sadness, anger and sadness that has been ingrained in our black community, not just because of five minutes of horror, but 400 years,” Frey said Thursday.
“If you’re feeling that sadness and that anger, it’s not only understandable, it’s right.”
“It’s a reflection of the truth that our black community has lived. While not from lived experience, that sadness must also be understood by our non-black communities. To ignore it, to toss it out, would be to ignore the values we all claim to have, that are all the more important during a time of crisis.”
This should have led to some interesting potential discussions about people of any race who felt sadness and anger over the fact they couldn’t feed their families — but that was arrant privilege, apparently.
In this case, the city’s police chief said it was too problematic to arrest those involved in property crimes.
“Right now, our main priority for our officers there are the safety of those who are out there,” Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo said during an interview with KARE-TV on Thursday.
“So we do have peaceful protesters who, just by the dynamics, are in the middle or in the mix with those who are causing some of this destruction. And so they’re being injured. And so we need to make sure we’re providing safety and protection for them.”
The Minneapolis chief of police basically telling officers it’s too dangerous to go stop any of this looting. Gonna be a long night pic.twitter.com/HTJZxAp4gN
— Jake Schneider (@jacobkschneider) May 28, 2020
“I’m wanting to make sure I’m understanding you correctly,” the anchor said. “So what you are saying is that it’s too dangerous for police to directly confront the looters.
“So you’ve made the decision to maybe let that site go for now and focus on keeping the rest of the neighborhood as safe as possible?”
“Absolutely,” Arradondo responded. “Our officers have had molotov cocktails thrown at them, rocks and other projecticles. And so obviously their safety is paramount. And so I don’t want them going into an area where they’re at risk of harming themselves.”
But if you are going out there, make sure to socially distance! Another proudly Democrat-run city in action, folks.
I can’t stand back & watch this happen to a great American City, Minneapolis. A total lack of leadership. Either the very weak Radical Left Mayor, Jacob Frey, get his act together and bring the City under control, or I will send in the National Guard & get the job done right…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 29, 2020
“The City encourages everyone to exercise caution to stay safe while participating in demonstrations, including wearing masks and physical distancing as much as possible to prevent the spread of COVID-19,” the city said in a statement Thursday.
“The City has made hundreds of masks available to protesters this week.”
So they can’t control crime, but they can make sure that there are enough masks for people out on the streets protesting and in many cases, rioting (which is very different from actual protesting).
In the meantime, the city evacuated an entire police precinct because “protesters” took it over, with the city saying that “in the interest of the safety of our personnel, the Minneapolis Police Department evacuated the 3rd Precinct of its staff. Protesters forcibly entered the building and have ignited several fires.”
This is weakness, plain and simple. Peaceful anti-lockdown protesters would have gotten a far more severe reaction from the city.
The death of George Floyd is a tragedy, but in a situation where social distancing is impossible, the city’s decision to not discourage protests says everything about just how dangerous they were in the first place.
The problem is, however, that riots are a lot different than protests — and those are dangerous, pandemic or not.
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