Aftermath of the George Floyd protests in Minneapolis–Saint Paul

Aftermath of the George Floyd protests in Minneapolis–Saint Paul
Part of George Floyd protests in Minneapolis–Saint Paul
Ruins on East Lake Street, May 30, 2020
Date	Initial period of unrest, May 26, 2020 – June 7, 2020
Location	Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Minnesota
Caused by	George Floyd protests
Methods	Riots, demonstrations, civil disobedience, civil resistance, public art
Status	Prolonged local unrest
Result
Death(s)	Calvin Horton Jr.[1] Oscar Lee Stewart Jr.[2]
Arrested	604 from May 27, 2020—June 2, 2020[3]
Damage	By June 19, 2020: $550 million[4] 1,500 property locations[5] 150 buildings set on fire[5]
Charged	Federal: 17 for arson[6][7][8] 3 Boogaloo movement members[6] 1 for felony gun possession[9] State and local: 91 for felony burglary[6] 1 for criminal vehicular operation[10] (charges dropped[11]) 1 for attempted murder of police officers[6] (acquitted at trial[12])

The aftermath of the George Floyd protests in Minneapolis–Saint Paul describes the result of the events between May 26, 2020, and June 7, 2020, in the Twin Cities metropolitan area of the U.S. state of Minnesota. Protests began as a response to the murder of George Floyd, a 46-year-old African-American man, on May 25, 2020, after Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on Floyd's neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds^[13] as three other officers assisted during an arrest.^[14][15][16] The incident was captured on a bystander's video and it drew public outrage as video quickly circulated in the news media by the following day.^[17]

Protests that emerged in Minneapolis on May 26 were initially peaceful.^[17][18] A several-day period of unrest, particularly three nights of heavy rioting from May 27 to the overnight hours of May 29, however, resulted in an estimated $550 million of damages to 1,500 property locations,^[4] 604 arrests,^[3] 164 instances of arson,^[19] and 2 deaths.^[20] Minnesota Governor Tim Walz deployed the state's National Guard to quell civil disorder and protests over Floyd's murder returned to being mostly peaceful events after May 30.^[21] The state’s command that responded to the unrest demobilized on June 7, 2020, as protests over racial injustice continued in 2020 and 2021.^[10][22][23]

Video footage of Floyd's murder and media coverage of the initial events in Minneapolis inspired a global protest movement against police brutality and racial inequality. The initial period of local unrest in Minneapolis, Saint Paul, and metropolitan suburban communities was the second most destructive in United States history, after the 1992 Los Angeles riots.^[24] By early June 2020, the events in Minneapolis and Saint Paul had been overlooked by national media as attention shifted to events elsewhere, but local residents and officials were left mired in the aftermath of historic unrest and property destruction amid an ongoing racial reckoning.^[25][26] Investigations of demonstrators and police tactics during the unrest were ongoing in 2021.^[27]

Background[]

Murder of George Floyd[]

Protests and riots[]

Response to civil disorder[]

Government actions[]

Attacks on bystanders and journalists[]

During the unrest, police forces fired tear gas and less-lethal munitions at crowds of people that included bystanders and reporters. Some activists said that several instances came without warning and were directed at groups demonstrating peacefully.^[28] Minneapolis police officers fired 5,200 less-lethal munitions rounds over six days of the initial unrest, and 57 people sought urgent care during protests in from May 26 to June 15, 2020, including 23 hit in the head or face, and 16 suffering traumatic brain injuries.^[29] A video of an incident that circulated online showed police officers enforcing curfew ordering residents on their porch to go inside, and after a few demands, firing paint rounds at the residents.^[30][31] The incident was one of 68 videos of excessive police force during George Floyd protests compiled by ProPublica. By June 2021, the Minnesota National Guard, Minnesota State Patrol, and Minneapolis Police Department had all denied involvement in the incident, and no officers faced discipline.^[32]

Over the first two weeks of the protests and unrest, 40 journalists were either attacked, had equipment damaged, or were arrested, according to data prepared by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.^[33] Linda Tirado, a photojournalist, was left blinded in one eye after being hit by a less-lethal bullet fired by Minneapolis police on May 29, while photographing police interactions with a crowd gathered after curfew.^[34] On May 29, Swedish Expressen correspondent Nina Svanberg was shot with a rubber bullet and VG photojournalist Thomas Nilsson had a red laser sight trained on him.^[35][36] Tom Aviles, a photojournalist with WCCO-TV, was shot at with rubber bullets and arrested the evening of May 30 on live television. He was later released.^[37] In the morning of May 29, CNN reporter Omar Jimenez and his camera crew were arrested by Minnesota State Patrol officers as Jimenez reported live on television. After intervention from Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, most of crew was released an hour later.^[38][39][40] A security guard from the CNN crew was jailed for over 20 hours, and he later filed a $500,000 civil rights suit in U.S. District Court that alleged he was targeted for being Black.^[40] Video of a parking lot at Lake Street and Nicollet Avenue captured uniformed state patrol officers on May 30 slashing tires of unoccupied vehicles parked near protests, including those of several journalists covering the unrest.^[41][42]

Executive orders and declarations[]

State and local officials issued several orders and declarations during the course of events. On May 28, Walz issued an executive order declaring a peacetime emergency in Minnesota due to the civil unrest, which stood up the state's emergency operations center and activated the Minnesota National Guard. Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey and Saint Paul mayor Melvin Carter also declared local emergencies in their cities the same day.^[43][44][45] The state imposed nightly curfews in the cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul beginning on Friday, May 29 to keep people off the streets. Several metro area cities also set curfews of their own.^[46] The curfew in Minneapolis prohibited all forms and modes of travels with exceptions for those who needed to travel for work. Those breaking curfew faced fines of up to $1,000 or 90 days in jail. Officials hoped that the curfew would "isolate those who have criminal intent from those who do not".^[47] Curfews that started on Friday, May 29, were in effect from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. By Monday, June 1, as nights grew calmer, curfews were shortened to 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. and extended through the night of Thursday, June 4. Curfews fully ended one week after being put in place, on June 5.^[48][49]

The Minneapolis City Council and Hennepin County passed resolutions declaring racism a public health emergency. The Minneapolis City Council resolution, approved July 17, 2020, outlining a series of action steps to address racial equity in the city.^[50] The city's resolution asserted that racism leads to discrimination in several areas of life, resulting in inequitable health outcomes for people of color for a variety of conditions and diseases. The resolution referenced studies showing that Black people are three times more likely to be killed by police.^[51] While the declaration in Minnesota, and elsewhere in the United States, was the result of Black scholars and Black activists seeking acknowledgement of systemic racism, some critics questioned what would happen next.^[52] The resolution in Minneapolis called for greater investments in housing, community development, youth programs, and small businesses to advance the interests of the city's residents who are Black, Indigenous, and people of color.^[53]

National Guard deployment[]

After the protests turned violent, 7,123 members of the Minnesota National Guard were pressed into duty in the Twin Cities. The deployment, commanded by Major General Jon A. Jensen, was state's the largest since World War II.^[54] The mission was to support local law enforcement, safeguard the state capitol building, and protect the right of people to protest.^[55][56] It was not until the night of May 30, that the state's National Guard deployment was fully mobilized, after which street violence began to subside and the protests returned to being largely peaceful events.^[21]

During the guard's mobilization, troops were fully armed because of credible threats authorities had picked up, but the troops did not fire on any people. Troops had 18 minor injuries during the course of deployment, none of which were the result of altercations with demonstrators.^[54]

The delayed arrival of troops to areas were unrest was occurring received criticism for "lagging" in its response to the riots. After being activated by Walz on May 28, Jensen claimed he and other guardsman were not provided clear directions by Walz on how to respond to the protests and riots.^[57][58] It was noted that no guardsmen were present during rioting on the May 29, which destroyed numerous businesses in Minneapolis; streets were not cleared until the next day.^[59][60]

Mass arrests[]

Officials had trouble identifying the people responsible for causing destruction as the peaceful protests transitioned to riots. Law enforcement recovered incendiaries, weapons, and stolen vehicles left in the areas of heated protests.^[61] The multi-agency law enforcement command center for the Twin Cities announced that 604 protesters had been arrested as of June 2.^[3] Several hundred of those arrested were described as participating in peaceful protests, but were taken into custody at night for violating curfew.^[62] Analysis of state and federal criminal charges found that disorganized crowds had no single goal or affiliation, many opportunist crowds amassed spontaneously during periods of lawlessness, and that people causing destruction had contradictory motives for their actions.^[9]

Surrender of a police station[]

Built in 1985, the third precinct station in south Minneapolis was overrun by demonstrators and officially lost on May 28, 2020.^[21] It is a matter of debate whether the decision by city officials to abandon it helped save lives or inspired more violence. Minneapolis police chief Medaria Arradondo, and other city leaders prepared as early as May 27 for the possibility of surrendering the station, which had been the location of tense protests beginning the evening of May 26, a day after Floyd's arrest and murder.^[63] According to Frey, after the precinct building was breached the city faced the choice of hand-to-hand combat with demonstrators that could result in more death, or forces could make a hasty departure and leave the building to the crowd, the latter of which happened in dramatic fashion as it was captured on live video. The image of an abandoned police station being set on fire by demonstrators was said to symbolize the collapse of order in Minneapolis and the failure of the police's relationship with the community.^[21] Hennepin County officials estimated tin July 2020 that he cost to replace the police station, either at the prior location or at a new location, was $10 million.^[64] Those who were charged and later pled guilty for their role in destroying the building were ordered to pay $12 million in restitution.^[65]

As a crowd breached the third precinct station on May 28, 2020, five miles (8 km) away at the second precinct police station in northeast Minneapolis, officers feared their station might be breached next, and began destroying documents with sensitive law enforcement information. In the days that followed, however, demonstrators focused their attention on the fifth precinct police station instead on Lake Street.^[65]

Demobilization[]

A multi-agency government command that responded to the riots and unrest demobilized on June 7, 2020. The government response was led by Minnesota Department of Public Safety and had participation of federal agencies, Minnesota National Guard, Minnesota Department of Public Safety, and Minnesota State Patrol. The command had provided security for some events, such as the June 4 memorial in Elliot Park, but noted that events leading up to and on June 7 were not violent.^[10] Chain-link fencing and cement barricades, however, remained wrapped around the Minnesota capitol building in Saint Paul for nearly a year later, until June 1, 2021.^[66]

Community actions[]

Boarding up[]

Many business owners put up plywood boards to cover windows and doors at their properties to prevent looting, particularly in the areas most impacted by civil unrest.^[67] Several establishments posted signs or painted on plywood doors that the business or organization was minority or black owned, or that it served American Indian youth. Some businesses were spared from destruction, such as a Nepalese restaurant on East Lake Street in Minneapolis that posted such signs, but others were destroyed by fire despite similar notices, such as a nearby Indian restaurant and barbershop.^[68][69] One business owner of a distillery near the Minneapolis third precinct station credited "black owned" signs for preventing fires at part of his business complex.^[70] Desperate residents in mixed-use buildings and those living in above-floor apartments over store fronts posted "do not burn" and "people live here" signs to dissuade demonstrators from torching the property.^[67]

Safety patrols[]

Residents awoke many mornings during the heaviest rioting to find nearby restaurants, liquor stores, and other businesses had been set on fire. In Minneapolis, the Longfellow, Powderhorn, and Phillips communities were heavily affected by the events. Reports and videos of residents confronting the people causing damage circulated, as did rumors about who might be responsible for the violence. Some residents felt the city and law enforcement had abandoned them, so they carried bats and sticks to protect their homes and businesses. On Saturday, May 30, Minneapolis city counselors hosted community meetings in public parks and helped residents initiate block-by-block plans to monitor disruptive activity.^[71]

The American Indian Movement and local business owners organized group patrols around the Little Earth community of up to 100 volunteers each night of the larger protests, which was credited with saving more than 20 businesses on Franklin Avenue.^[72] Little Earth community members later paid for lights at a park and trained community members in de-escalation tactics, efforts some hoped would serve as a new model for policing in the city.^[73]

Many small business owners and organization leaders stood guard at their buildings overnight during the heaviest rioting. Some intervened to dissuade rioters from destroying property while others carried fire arms.^[68][69]

Cleaning up[]

Each morning, hundreds of residents, some with snow shovels and brooms, went to areas affected by overnight rioting to clean up trash, graffiti, broken glass, and the remnants of damaged buildings. Some residents participating in the clean up were devastated by the damage, but shared the sense of anger and solidarity over Floyd's murder.^[74][75] Other participants said that cleaning up helped calm intense emotions about the events. Organizers of clean up events said they were partially motivated by a worry that the protests would only be defined only by looting and vandalism and not messages about justice.^[76]

Food drives[]

In the areas of heavy rioting, many local stores were closed after being looted and burned, and food pantries were overwhelmed. A small food drive at a middle school in Minneapolis aimed to fill 85 bags of food to help families, but organizers ended up with a line of vehicles stretching 14 city blocks and 20,000 bags of bread, fruit, and other items. A food drive in the Little Earth community resulted in enough packages of food and diapers to serve 1,000 residents and 7,500 people from the nearby neighborhoods. Many organizations, overwhelmed by the volume of donations, had to turn them away.^[77]

Property damage[]

Arson, vandalism, and looting[]

By early June, nearly 1,500 property locations in the Twin Cities were damaged by vandalism, fire, and/or looting, with some buildings reduced to rubble and dozens of others completely destroyed by fire. The heaviest damage occurred in Minneapolis along a 5-mile (8.0 km) stretch on Lake Street between the city's third and fifth police precincts and in Saint Paul along a 3.5-mile (5.6 km) stretch of University Avenue in the Midway area.^[5] During the riots, Minnesota National Guard forces and law enforcement focused on protecting large institutions such as the Federal Reserve, power plants, and state capitol building. Officials acknowledged the emphasis came at the expense of family- and minority-owned business, many of which were burned or plundered by looters.^[78]

In Minneapolis, approximately 1,300 properties were damaged by the rioting and looting,^[79] nearly 100 of which were destroyed or severely damaged.^[80] Property damages, which did not include loss of business inventory, were approximately $107, according to the Minneapolis Assessor's Office.^[27] Overall, the city estimated damages and losses were $350 million and affected 22,000,000 square feet (2,000,000 m²) of commercial property.^[81] Two post offices of the United States Postal Service were among those destroyed by fire during the riots.^[82] Thirty-five families lost their housing in buildings that were damaged by fire.^[83]

In Saint Paul, the unrest resulted in $82 million in damages and affected 330 buildings.^[84] The total dollar amount of damages did not include other long-term impacts such as lost business activity.^[85] Thirty-seven properties sustained major damage or were destroyed, half of which were national chain stores.^[84] During the heaviest period of unrest, Saint Paul's fire department responded to 50 confirmed structure fires.^[81] The city's University Avenue corridor that sustained most of the damage featured many small businesses owned by people of color.^[86] More than 50 damaged business were owned by Asian-American people, some of whom resettled in the area after leaving war-torn countries.^[79] Many of those later charged federally for arson crimes were white Americans.^[85] Commenting on the racial dynamic, the St. Paul Pioneer Press said, "In St. Paul, the irony of self-proclaimed advocates — many of them white — arriving from outside the city to burn down large strips of ethnic neighborhoods in the name of racial justice hasn’t been lost on residents of the Midway."^[85]

Top property types damaged in Minneapolis and Saint Paul as of July 13, 2020^[5]

Type	Number damaged
Restaurant	267
Retail	207
Services	114
Grocery	85
Cellphone store	76
Fuel	63
Auto	60
Residence	53
Salon/barber	52
Health care	47

A database maintained by the Star Tribune newspaper found that restaurants were the property type suffering the greatest amount of damage, with 267 locations affected by the civil disorder. Many restaurant buildings were entirely destroyed by fire during the violence, including both locally owned, independent restaurants and several locations of fast-food chains such as Arby's, Domino's Pizza, Popeyes, Subway, and Wendy's.^[87]

Damage from rioting was reported in the suburban cities as far north as Blaine and as far south as Apple Valley. Clusters of damaged storefronts also appeared in the suburban cities of Richfield, North Saint Paul, Maplewood, Brooklyn Center, and Roseville.^[88] Estimates of property damage in the region were upwards of $550 million,^[4] making the unrest in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul area the second most destructive in United States history, after the 1992 Los Angeles riots.^[24] Local officials estimated that rebuilding damaged business corridors in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul region could take 10 years.^[79]

Rebuilding and recovery[]

Economic conditions for people and businesses worsened in Minneapolis and Saint Paul after the riots.^[89] Local and minority-owned business were disproportionately affected by both the COVID-19 pandemic and the unrest after the murder of Floyd.^[86] Private insurance covered less than half of the estimated $550 million in property damages.^[4] Residents and business owners worried that outside investors would seek to displace local businesses during the rebuilding process.^[86]

Governor Walz requested federal aid of around $15 million, the amount potentially eligible for reimbursement to mitigate fire damage, from the Federal Emergency Management Agency on July 2, 2020. In order for the request to be approved, President Donald Trump would have needed declare a “major disaster” for the state of Minnesota.^[90] The federal government, however, denied the request a few days later, leaving the state with the difficulty of addressing the financial impacts from property damage amidst a state budget crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.^[91] Trump later said at an August 18, 2020, campaign rally in Mankato, Minnesota that he denied the aid request as "punishment" to local officials. That decision contrasted with the disaster declaration and federal aid package of $638 million President George H.W. Bush approved following the 1992 riots in Los Angeles.^[92]

State and local officials vowed to help affected businesses by creating new financing initiatives to accelerate repair and recovery efforts.^[89] In Saint Paul, the Chamber of Commerce raised $1 million for small business rebuilding grants.^[79] Saint Paul officials also established a $3 million relief fund, but it was quickly depleted and officials looked to state and federal relief options by August 2020.^[84] By November, the Lake Street Council had raised $11 million that it planned to distribute as small grants to help local business rebuild and recover in the East Lake Street corridor in Minneapolis that had been most impacted by arson and looting.^[93]

By August 2020, the vast majority of the heavily damaged sites were still left in ruins or dangerous piles of hazardous rubble as the city required business owners to be fully compliant with property taxes before issuing demolition permits. Frustrated and financially distressed business owners felt the city was discouraging reinvestment, especially as Saint Paul officials expedited demolition permits without a similar requirement.^[80] Minneapolis officials eventually waived the property tax requirement after the issue generated public scrutiny.^[94]

Several large businesses announced immediate plans to rebuild after the riots. Among them, the Target Corporation made a commitment to rebuild the store on East Lake Street that had been heavily damaged and looted,^[95] which it re-opened six months later in November 2020,^[93] and was followed by the re-opening of nearby stores Aldi, Family Dollar, and Cub Foods that had to be heavily renovated.^[96] The developer of Midtown Commons, the six-story, under-construction affordable housing building that burned down near the third precinct station, announced plans in June to start the project over, a process the developer said would take two years.^[83]

Many small business owners in the Twin Cities who were affected by the riots and looting found they had to pay for repairs and rebuilding out of their own pockets as insurance payments fell well short of amounts needed.^[24] A proposed $300 million Minnesota recovery fund, that included $168 million for small businesses and nonprofits to rebuild, did not receive backing from the state legislature in 2020 when Republicans who controlled the Senate objected.^[84] In June 2021, state lawmakers agreed to a $150 million small business relief program, but it require businesses to seek an up-front, 2-to-1 match. It was also available to any business in the state for economic recovery and not focused on businesses affected by the riots in Minneapolis and Saint Paul.^[97]

The recovery process for many of the small, independent business that burned down near the third police precinct station at Lake Street and Minnehaha Avenue was described as slow.^[96] The owner of the Gandhi Mahal Restaurant near Minnehaha Avenue who famously said, “Let my building burn. Justice needs to be served,” during the initial riots,^[98] became an international symbol of the unrest.^[99] However, six months later he was left paying for $80,000 in demolition costs out of pocket and was worried about his future.^[100] Demolition costs for many properties were between $200,000 to $300,000, which was more than the buildings were worth before being burned down. In August 2020, the City of Minneapolis agreed to demolish some properties and passed on the assessed cost to property owners; a $2 million hardship fund was set up for property owners that could not pay. Four months later the city had little to show for the efforts as some of the ugliest and most hazardous piles of rubble remained.^[100] The owners of Town Talk diner on East Lake Street sued the city for $4.5 million. The landmark restaurant burned down on May 28, 2020, after police vacated the third police precinct building and abandoned the East Lake Street area.^[101]

Some business said they would not rebuild and would disinvest from Minneapolis. One business that suffered heavy damage to its factory from the fires, 7-Sigma, which was located near the third police precinct building, said they would leave the city for good after losing trust in public officials during the riots.^[89] The restaurant chain Arby's said it would wait to rebuild its location that burned on East Lake Street near Hiawatha Avenue, citing the potential for unrest over the trial verdict of the four police officers responsible for Floyd's murder.^[96]

At about a year after the May 2020 riots, less than 5 percent of the business that were damaged or destroyed on East Lake Street in Minneapolis had reopened, according to the Lake Street Council that promoted business activity in the area.^[67] In Saint Paul, 35 of the 270 businesses damaged during the riots remained closed a year after the riots. The Midway Chamber of Commerce distributed aid to damaged business ranging from $1,000 to $50,000 from the $1 million it raised to support affected store owners.^[102] The Midway Shopping Center on University Avenue, which was damaged by fires and looting on May 28-29, 2020, permanently closed as Saint Paul city officials ordered it demolished, which resulted in several minority-owned businesses within the shopping center being forcefully closed that did not suffer fire damage to their storefront during the riots.^[103][104]

Criminal charges and legal proceedings[]

State and local[]

Misdemeanor citations and curfew violations[]

Most protesters who were arrested during the late May and early June 2020 events were issued citations and quickly released.^[105] Charges against many who protested peacefully were later dropped.^[106] By November 2020, Minneapolis officials pursued charges for about 75 of 666 cases related to the unrest.^[106] In Saint Paul, 87 of the 100 people arrested during the unrest were for curfew violations, and City Attorney Lyndsey Olson said that cases would be dismissed for people engaging in peaceful protests that did not involve acts of violence.^[107] By a year later after the unrest, 95 percent of misdemeanor citations given to protesters had been dismissed.^[27]

In the immediate aftermath of Floyd's murder, Former NFL star and civil rights activist Colin Kaepernick donated what was described as a "substantial" sum of money to a legal fund to defend protesters in Minnesota and elsewhere.^[108] The Minnesota Freedom Fund, a non-profit organization, received $35 million in donations after Floyd's murder that was intended to help protesters post bail who were jailed during the riots. Public figures and celebrities such as Kamala Harris, Steve Carell, Cynthia Nixon, and Seth Rogen were among those praising the organization's mission on social media. The organization later drew criticism for bailing people out of jail at random, including those charged with violent crimes and sex offenses unrelated to the protests. Only about a dozen protesters who were arrested during the late May and early June 2020 events had their bail posted by the Minnesota Freedom Fund.^[105]

Looting, burglary, and vandalism[]

Police departments and local newspapers documented widespread property damage during the unrest, with some residents submitting videos and photographic evidence. Investigators, however, prioritized the most serious cases after reviewing available footage.^[27] Ninety-one people faced Minnesota state felony charges by December 2020 for burglary connected to looting in late May—35 in Hennepin County and 56 in Ramsey County. All but three of those charged were from Minnesota and most had home addresses in Minneapolis or Saint Paul. Nearly a third of all charges resulted in the cases beyond resolved through diversion or restorative justice programs. The number of felony charges were said to represent a small fraction of the total people culpable for rioting and looting during the events in late May and early June 2020.^[6][27] Though more than 1,000 property locations were damaged in May 2020, criminal charges by a year later had only been filed for damage related to 11 properties.^[27]

Acquittal for intentional murder of police officers[]

A 27-year-old man from Saint Paul faced intentional murder and several other charges for firing three^[12] gunshots at a vehicle containing Minneapolis police officers during the overnight hours of May 30 to 31.^[109] The police officers were patrolling the area of East Lake Street and 15th Avenue that had been the location of extensive property damage during the unrest and was under a curfew order. The officers encountered a group of people in a parking lot at approximately 4 a.m. Most of the group members scattered. Officers, according to their statements in court documents, believed the 28-year old man was crouching down to pick up a rock and fired a less-lethal round at him. They said man returned gunshots at the officers before fleeing. Police officers said they chased him down and detained him after a struggle. The officers recovered a pistol nearby allegedly used by the man,^[109][110] and that was legally registered to him.^[12] In early June 2020, Hennepin County officials charged him with attempted second-degree murder and for assault and rioting.^[110][111] The Minnesota Freedom Fund posted the $75,000 bail to get the man out of jail while he awaited trial.^[6][105]

A five-day jury trial presided over by Judge Tamara Garcia took place in a Hennepin County court in July 2021 that acquitted the Saint Paul man of all charges, after he successfully argued his actions were self defense. During the trial, his testimony and police body camera footage revealed that an unmarked, white van containing several police officers approached the crowd gathered outside a gas station that fired rubber bullets before identifying itself as police. The crowd included the gas station owner and neighbors who were protecting the building from potential looters. The Saint Paul man, who was struck in the chest, testified that at the time he thought he was under attack by unknown people, who might be white supremacists, who were firing actual bullets. In response, he fired three defensive shots low and toward the white van without striking the vehicle or any person. When a SWAT team exited the unmarked van, he immediately laid on the ground to surrender, and was then beaten by the officers as they arrested him, resulting in a fractured eye socket.^[12]

Initial police statements about the incident and police body camera footage shown at trial had contrasting details about what actually happened, and the body camera footage helped exonerate the Saint Paul man at trial.^[12]

Tanker truck incident on I-35W[]

A 35-year-old man from Otsego, Minnesota, was charged with criminal vehicle operation for the incident on May 31, 2021, when he drove his semi-truck onto Interstate 35W in Minneapolis as a crowd of thousands of people were marching down the south-bound lanes.^[112][113] Minnesota Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington initially denied that the truck driver did the act intentionally^[114] and released him pending further investigation,^[115] but he was later charged in October 2020 in connection with the incident.^[10] In their criminal complaint, the police believed the driver should have been able to see the crowd and multiple vehicles that had either stopped or were traveling in the wrong direction, giving him time to stop or change course, and that he drove in a manner to scare protesters marching on the bridge.^[10] In June 2021, Hennepin County prosecutors dropped the charge for criminal vehicle operations and the driver agreed to a year-long probationary period and payment of restitution. Authorities did not charge anyone for allegedly attacking the driver during the May 31 incident.^[11]

Federal[]

Federal authorities investigated 164 arson cases related to fires that occurred in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul region during the May 2020 riots.^[19] Twenty-two people had been charged in federal court by February 2021 in connection to the local unrest that occurred in May 2020.^[9][7] Seventeen of the federal charges were for arson-related crimes, but arson charges against two persons were later dropped.^{[27][19][116]} Only one person who was charged federally had a residential address in Minneapolis, while two were from outside of Minnesota, including an Iowa man charged with illegal gun procession who was arrested during the unrest and an Illinois man who later pled guilty to arson charges.^[9] Authorities relied largely on video evidence and in some cases on the social media videos that suspects posted of themselves at protests.^[6] Over half of those charged were described as being white Americans who had varying or unclear ideologies for their actions. The average age of those charged was 25.^[85] Many came to Minneapolis and Saint Paul from suburban communities or exurbs of the Twin Cities during the unrest with intent to cause damage.^[85]

Minneapolis police station arson[]

Four men faced federal charges in United States district court for their role in destroying the third precinct police station in Minneapolis on May 28, 2020, that was overrun by demonstrators and set on fire after police abandoned the building.^{[6][117][118]} However, as many as 1,000 people had gathered outside the police building that night and many entered the building illegally.^[119] The four men, who all pled guilty to the charge of conspiracy to commit arson,^[120] were the 24-year old Davon De-Andre Turner of Saint Paul,^[121][117] the 23-year old Branden Michael Wolfe of both Saint Paul and the U.S. state of Florida,^[122][117] the 26-year old Bryce Williams from Staples,^[123] and the 22-year old Dylan Robinson from Brainerd.^[124]

The four men arrived separately at the police station the night of May 28 where a large crowd gathered late that night. When the crowd eventually began chanting, “Burn it down, burn it down”, the four men allegedly breached fencing around the police station intended to keep trespassers out and participating in acts that set the building on fire.^{[125][126][127]} Robinson allegedly climbed over fencing around the police station and lit a Molotov cocktail that another person threw at the building. Robinson was sentenced to four years in prison.^[120]

Williams was a self-described semiprofessional basketball player, social media influencer, and aspiring documentary film maker. Authorities used videos he had posted of himself on the social media website TikTok, as well as surveillance footage of the property, to connect him to the destruction of the third precinct in Minneapolis.^[128][129] Court documents alleged that Williams worked with Turner to light an incendiary device and helped accelerate the fire.^[129][125] Turner was sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to pay $12 million in restitution.^[125] Williams was sentenced to 27 months in prison, a length of time shorter than the other three men who had pled guilty to the crime.^[130][119]

While other people started the initial fire, authorities alleged that Wolf accelerated it by pushing material into it and that he later entered the building. Days afterwards, authorities found Wolf in possession of weapons and riot gear he allegedly stole from the building the night of May 28. Wolfe received a three-and-a-half year prison sentence for the arson charge.^[131] Wolf knew George Floyd casually from the Salvation Army Harbor Light Center homeless shelter where Floyd was once a security guard and Wolf had received free meals. In a media interview after his guilty plea, Wolfe denied being a part of any extremist organization or being influenced by a radical ideology and said that his bipolar disorder put him in a manic state during the unrest.^[132]

A judge ordered Robinson, Turner, Williams, and Wolf to pay $12 million in restitution for conspiring to commit arson at the police station. The amount was calculated based on the cost of rebuilding the station, replacing equipment, and paying overtime for city employees affected by the police station arson.^[119]

United States v. Jose A. Felan Jr.[]

Jose A. Felan Jr. and Mena Dyaha Yousif, residents of Rochester, Minnesota, were arrested by U.S. Marshals for their alleged role in setting several fires to business along University Avenue in Saint Paul on May 28, 2020.^[133] According to federal charging documents, Felan was seen on video recordings entering and exiting a Napa Auto Parts store multiple times as it was on fire.^[134] Surveillance footage captured Felan in possession of fuel canisters as he entered a Goodwill thrift store and Gordon Parks High School. Federal authorities alleged he had a role in setting fire to the thrift store and school, and another clothing store.^[135] Yousif was accused of aiding and abetting Felan and later helping him evade authorities.^[136][134]

In the days after their alleged actions in Saint Paul during the riots, Felan and Yousif fled to Mexico to evade arrest, but the U.S. Marshals located them, and Mexican authorities helped return them to the United States in February 2021 to face federal arson charges.^[7][136] Yousif was pregnant during the May 2020 riots and gave birth to a child while she was evading authorities.^[133] Federal authorities relied on surveillance and facial recognition systems to track Felan and Yousif; informants ultimately revealed their location in Mexico, resulting in arrest. Yousif was separated from her child that stayed behind in Mexico after her extradition and Yousif's family pursued custody of the child in the aftermath of her arrest.^[136]

Felan and Yousif initially entered a plea of not guilty to the charges against them during judicial proceedings in early 2021.^[133] Yousif, however, later pled guilty on September 2, 2021, to the charge of being an accessary after the fact to arson, related to several fires set at stores along University Avenue in Saint Paul on May 28, 2020.^[137]

Other acts of arson[]

At Gordon Parks high school, Felan was allegedly aided in lighting fires by Mohamed Hussein Abdi of Maplewood, Minnesota, who also faced federal charges.^[133] Abdi plead guilty in March 2021 to one federal count of conspiracy to commit arson. Surveillance video from May 28, 2020, had captured Abdi inside the school where he lit a trash can on fire with a liquid accelerant.^[133]

As unrest grew in Minneapolis, Matthew Lee Rupert, a 28-year old from Galesburg, Illinois, posted messages on social media on May 28, 2020, that he was going to Minneapolis "to riot". He recruited a 17-year old companion to join him on the trip. Rupert then livestreamed his actions in Minneapolis on social media, which included inciting violence against law enforcement officers and breaking into a boarded-up Sprint cellphone store on Nicollet Avenue on May 29, 2020, and lighting the building on fire. Rupert plead guilty on April 7, 2021, in U.S. District Court to one federal count of arson, in exchange for the federal investigators dropping civil disorder and riot charges against him.^{[9][8][138][139]} Rupert was sentenced on August 10, 2021, to an 8.5-year prison sentence and three years of supervised release.^[140]

McKenzy Ann DeGidio Dunn of Rosemount, Minnesota,^[141] and Samuel Elliott Frey of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, travelled together to Saint Paul on May 28, 2020, to participate in the unrest. According to federal charges, they were part of a crowd that broke into the Great Health and Nutrition store on University Avenue and helped set the building on fire.^[85] Dunn and Frey both pled guilty to arson conspiracy charges. Dunn was sentenced to three-years probation and ordered to pay $31,000 in restitution.^[141]

Two suburban Twin Cities men—the 29-year-old Marc Bell Gonzales from Wayzata and the 24-year-old Alexander Steven Heil from Monticello—faced federal charges for conspiring to commit arson at a Wells Fargo Bank building on Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis that was set ablaze by several people on May 28, 2020, and suffered heavy fire damage.^[142] Gonzales poured gasoline on a fire as a crowd chanted, "burn it down", during a period widespread civil disorder; he was sentenced to 37 months in prison. Heil admitted to throwing items into the fire so the bank building would burn faster; he was sentenced to two years in prison.^[143]

Federal authorities charged two men for firebombing the Dakota County Service Center in Apple Valley on May 29, 2020, during the unrest. Fornandous Cortez Henderson, a 32-year old from Savage, Minnesota pled guilty to aiding and abetting arson.^[144] He admitted in court that he chose the facility as he had made court appearances there and because he was because angry over the murder of Floyd. Henderson was sentenced to no more than six years in prison.^[145] The other co-defendant, Garret Patrick Ziegler, then 24-years old, from Long Lake, Minnesota,^[144] pled guilty to one count of adding and abetting arson. He was sentenced to five years in prison, three years of supervised released.^[146] The two men were ordered to each pay $206,000 in restitution.^[146][145]

Matthew Scott White, a 31-year-old man from Saint Paul, Minnesota, was sentenced to 72 months in prison for starting a fire at a Enterprise Rent-A-Car building that was entirely destroyed by fire on May 28, 2020.^[147][148] White had pled guilty to committing acts of arson at the building, which was located on University Avenue in Saint Paul.^[149]

Deaths[]

Shooting of Calvin Horton Jr.[]

Calvin Horton Jr., a 43-year-old man from Minneapolis, was fatally shot on May 27, 2020, 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 site that evening. The owner of the shop was a 59-year-old man from Galesville, Wisconsin.^[1][150] The scene in and around the store was described as chaotic with many people inside the store. When police officers arrived in response to the shooting, bystanders threw objectors at the officers as they administered aid to Horton, Jr. and attempted to investigate the scene, leading the officers abort the investigation.^[151] Paramedics that arrived were unable to reach Horton on the sidewalk due to the chaos until officers moved him to a nearby business. Horton died that night at a hospital.^[152]

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.^[151] One witness said Horton was within seven feet (2.1 m) of the shop owner when he was shot. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner found Horton was turned sideways. Several other witnesses who were at the scene refused to cooperate with investigators, including a friend of Horton's and the pawn shop owner. Authorities were unable to recover the firearm used in the shooting or surveillance footage as the store was ransacked the night of the shooting and everything was taken when by the time officers returned to investigate the next day.^[152]

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.^[151] 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.^[152]

Inhalation death of Oscar Lee Stewart Jr.[]

Federal and state authorities recovered human remains at the Max It Pawn store on July 20, 2020. The pawn shop, located a few blocks east of the third precinct station, was destroyed by fire during rioting on May 28, 2020. The victim appeared to have suffered thermal injuries. Montez T. Lee Jr., 25-year-old man from Rochester, Minnesota, was federally charged in June 2020 with arson for the particular fire.^[20][153] The identity of the adult male victim was not initially released by officials who said they were investigating the death as a homicide.^[154] In October, the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's office identified the victim as Oscar Lee Stewart Jr., a 30-year-old from Burnsville, Minnesota, and classified his death as a homicide. According the medical examiner's report, Stewart Jr. died from "probable inhalation of products of combustion and thermal injury from an intentional building fire."^[2]

Two days after Floyd's murder, on May 28, 2020, Stewart Jr. had called his family to say was going to stop by Lake Street to see the protests. He did not return home that evening. Over the ensuing weeks, his family filed a missing persons report and conducted a search of its own for Stewart, and eventually tracked his car's GPS to behind the pawnshop. It was not until authorities discovered human remains at the pawn shop in July, and later matched his DNA, that Stewart's whereabouts were known. Videos from the night of May 28, 2020, revealed a frantic search for a person trapped inside the pawn shop as it burned. Bystanders had tried to remove plywood panels from the exterior of the building when they heard faint cries for help from inside. The cries had stopped when firefighters arrived at the scene and found the building engulfed in flames. Firefighters were unable to conduct a sweep due to the deteriorating conditions. Family members of Stewart questioned why it took authorities nearly two months to search the wreckage again.^[155]

In July 2021, Montez T. Lee Jr. pled guilty to one federal count of arson for his actions on May 28, 2020, that included pouring an accelerate around the business and setting it on fire.^[153] Lee, along with others, broke into the pawn shop,^[156] and Lee's actions were captured by surveillance video. Lee was not specifically prosecuted for Steward's death and his attorney disputed that he was responsible stating that Lee believed that the pawn shop was empty when he set it on fire.^[153]

Agitators and extremist involvement[]

Early in the events, state and local officials claimed that "white supremacists" and "outside agitators" might be responsible for property destruction and violence.^[71] Walz initially speculated that as much as 80% of people causing destruction and lighting fires could be from outside the state; several analyses of arrest records later contradicted the statement, finding that under 20% of those arrested were from outside Minnesota. Mayor Melvin Carter said that all of the people arrested in Saint Paul by May 30 were from outside Minnesota, a claim he later rescinded.^[71][157] President Donald Trump and U.S. Attorney General William Barr placed blame for the riots on radical leftists and the Antifa movement, but an investigation by the FBI later revealed no such trend among those found responsible for the violence and destruction.^[9]

Hacked police intelligence documents as part of the BlueLeaks data release revealed that federal and state officials were monitoring social media and online message groups for extremist activity related to the protests. Local law enforcement were on high alert for suspicious behavior and attacks on officers, possibly leading to confrontational tactics with demonstrators, such as firing less-lethal munitions and tear gas. A number of imminent attack warnings officials were secretly monitoring never came to pass.^[158] Federal, state, and local officials refused to comment on the documents, saying they were obtained illegally and contained law enforcement-sensitive information.^[159]

"Umbrella Man"[]

A person, nicknamed "Umbrella Man", who dressed in black clothing, wore a gas mask, and carried an umbrella and small sledgehammer, was seen in a bystander's video taken on May 27, 2020, breaking windows at an AutoZone store near the third police precinct, as well as spray-painting "free shit for everyone zone" on the store.^[160][161] He also made violent threats to a photojournalist who captured images of him in the background of a news report.^[162] Later that day, the AutoZone store was set on fire by unknown people.^[160] Videos of the AutoZone windows being smashed were later circulated widely on social media.^[161]

In late July 2020 the Minneapolis police department identified a suspect for "Umbrella Man". The suspect had ties to the Hells Angels and Aryan Cowboy Brotherhood (a neo-Nazi prison gang and organized crime gang), and he participated in the harassment of a Muslim woman in Stillwater, Minnesota, in June 2020 that received media coverage.^[160] Police documents that were leaked to the public stated that white supremacist groups, including the Hells Angels and Aryan Cowboys, had discussed discrediting protests by posing as demonstrators.^[163] Minneapolis police obtained a cellphone search warrant in June 27, 2020, to examine geolocation data.^[161] The person had not been charged with any crime as of December 2020.^[6] By mid 2021, the Minneapolis police refused to comment on "Umbrella Man" or new developments as they considered the matter to be an open investigation.^[161]

Boogaloo movement[]

During the days of initial unrest that following Floyd's murder on May 25, 2020, adherents of the Boogaloo movement, a loosely organized far-right antigovernmental extremist ideology, discussed how to further chaos leading to a civil war that it hoped would be blamed on the Black Lives Matter movement.^[164] By late 2020, federal authorities had charged three alleged adherents of the boogaloo movement for violent participation in the unrest with intention to cause destruction in Minneapolis.^{[6][118][165]} Facing charges were the 30-year-old Michael Robert Solomon of New Brighton, Minnesota, the 22-year-old Benjamin Ryan Teeter of Hampstead, North Carolina, and the 26-year-old Ivan Harrison Hunter of Boerne, Texas.^[166][118]

According to federal prosecutors, Solomon recruited Boogaloo movement participation in the unrest via Facebook. Teeter was one of at least five Boogaloo adherents to travel to Minneapolis to join Solomon. Boogaloo movement adherents were seen openly carrying firearms in Minneapolis neighborhoods and discussed committing acts of violence against police and other targets to advance their mission to overthrow the government.^[167][166]

After the riots abated, Boogaloo adherents attempted to raise money to buy a training facility in South America. Solomon and Teeter connected with an FBI informant who had posed as a member of the Hamas organization, who they agreed to supply weapons to, and they also made plans to bomb a courthouse in the Twin Cities metropolitan area. Solomon and Teeter were arrested by federal agents in September 2020 before their plans were carried out.^[166] The two pled guilty to federal terrorism charges, Teeter in December 2020 and Solomon in May 2021, and faced potential prison sentences of up to 20 years.^{[168][169][170]}

Federal authorities charged Ivan Harrison Hunter, a 26-year-old man from Boerne, Texas, with one count of interstate travel to incite a riot for shooting 13 rounds from an AK-47-style machine gun into the Minneapolis third police precinct building while people were inside, looting it, and helping to set it on fire the night of May 28. Court documents alleged that he was acting as an agent provocateur and that he travelled from Texas to Minneapolis with the intent to cause damage.^[171] Hunter had made plans with other Boogaloo movement adherents, including Benjamin Teeter, to meet at the Cub Foods store near the third precinct police station the night of May 28, and he bragged about his role in setting the police station on fire afterward via posts on Facebook and in text messages with Steven Carrillo, a suspect in the Boogaloo ambush attacks of security personnel and law enforcement officers in California in May and June 2020. Hunter described himself as a "terrorist" and said he was a leader of a local Boogaloo group in Texas.^[118][165] He initially entered a plea of not guilty to federal riot charges at a May 2021 judicial preceding,^{[172][118][173]} but he later pled guilty in September 2021.^[171]

Short-term impacts[]

Policing policies[]

Though the Minneapolis police was under intense scrutiny in the aftermath of Floyd's murder, the city struggled with how to reform the force.^[174] In mid June, the Minneapolis City Council and the Minnesota Department of Human Rights agreed to a temporary restraining order requiring Minneapolis to update its procedures to ban chokeholds and other neck restraints by police, such as the one used in the murder George Floyd.^[175] Many organizations quickly distanced themselves from the Minneapolis police force by ending formal policing relationships, led by city's school district and park board and the University of Minnesota.^[176] The park board also announced changes to the park police uniforms and vehicles to distinguish them from Minneapolis police.^[177] The Minnesota state legislature passed major police reform legislation in July that banned chokeholds, established an independent commission to review police-related deaths, and required de-escalation training for officers.^[178] By late 2020, city officials announced plans to begin pilot programs for mental health response teams, violence prevention, early warning system to flag officer behavior, broader use of 3-1-1 system for theft reports, and a truth and reconciliation commission to promote racial healing.^[174] The city and police department also revisited several policies, such as limiting no-knock warrants, clarifying use of force, requiring de-escalation attempts, and more heavily involving the city's attorney office in office misconduct investigations.^[174]

A public pledge to dismantle the police that was taken at Powderhorn Park on June 7, 2020, by nine Minneapolis city council members, though it represented a veto-proof majority, did not actually disband the city's police force and details about the next steps in the process were not defined at the time. Some activists wanted to consider the idea of unarmed crisis response personnel and re-purposing the police department's $193 million annual budget for education, food, housing, and health care.^{[179][56][174]} Public conversation about the future of the city's police department came as Minneapolis had tallied its highest levels of violent crime in decades.^[180] In December 2020, the Minneapolis city council voted to redirect $7.7 million of the department's proposed $179 million budget to mental health crisis teams, violence prevention programs, and for civilian employees to handle non-emergency theft and property damage reports. The council placed $11.4 million of the police budget in a reserve fund that requires ad hoc council approval for police recruitment and overtime. By a narrow 7-6 margin, the council voted to keep in place the police department target level of 888 officers by 2022.^[181][182] The 4.5 percent shift in the police budget was considered "not nearly the sweeping change that activists and some lawmakers had demanded" after Floyd's murder and the resulting unrest.^[183]

Bob Kroll, head of the Minneapolis police officers union, was the subject of several protests. After offering support for the officers at Floyd's murder and a full investigative process, he made few substantial statements during the initial course of events. But after several days of clashes with the police and protesters, he sent a controversial email to Minneapolis rank-and-file police officers. The message criticized Frey and Walz for not containing the riots and commending the work of responding officers, and he characterized the protests as a "terrorist movement", a claim he also made about the Black Lives Matter movement in 2016.^[184] Several local officials were quick to condemn Kroll's email statement, including city council president Lisa Bender who described Kroll as "a barrier to change" of the Minneapolis police force.^[185] Several labor union leaders called for Kroll's removal, with one saying he perpetuated "a culture of violence" against the black community.^[186] In June, Arradondo announced the police department would withdraw from union contract negotiations as a first step towards police reforms,^[187] but other city officials continued to participate in negotiations.^[174]

In November 2021, a ballot measure to amend the city's charter was put before Minneapolis voters to replace the police department with a department of public safety. The establishment of a new department safety would have eliminated a required minimum number of police officers based on the city's population, and the wording of the ballot question said that it would provide a "comprehensive public health approach” that "could include" police officers "if necessary". In order to pass, the measure required support from 51% of voters. It was rejected with 80,506 or 56.2 percent of votes for "no" and 62,813 or 43.8% for "yes".^[188]

Public art[]

Vibrant works of arts appeared all over the Twin Cities that honored George Floyd's memory and showed community solidarity. Boarded-up buildings were described as canvasses for artists, and so were walls, sidewalks, and public property.^[189]

In a grassy field near the location where Floyd died, artists erected a symbolic cemetery with 100 gravestone markers of African-Americans, including of Floyd, who were killed by police.^[190]

A mural of George Floyd on the side of the Cup Foods grocery store became one of the most recognizable images of the global protest movement that was sparked by his murder, and a digital rendering of it served as a backdrop to his casket at his funeral in Houston, Texas.^[191][192] The work, created by white artists, drew some criticism for being created without the input of people of color and the nearby community, and it started a discussion about representation in the artist response to Floyd's murder.^[193]

A group of local artists using the name Creatives After Curfew, who were predominately Black, Indigenous, and People of Color painted murals on boarded-up business through the Twin Cities after raising money for paint supplies through several campaigns, and their works featured messages calling for justice and expressing pride for minority-owned businesses.^[194]

Volunteers from the artist community sought to preserve art work created on plywood panels that covered up buildings and doors of Twin Cities’ businesses. By May 2021, they had gathered and preserved over 900 boards.^[195]

Political viewpoints and elections[]

As in many other locations in the United States, the majority of local protests in the aftermath of George Floyd's murder were characterized as peaceful events, and some protesters intervened to try and stop some of acts of destruction. However, for others, the damage from the initial wave of unrest was seen as an understandable reaction to years of racial injustice and lack of significant reform to law enforcement practices.^[196] The chaos and destruction in Minneapolis and Saint Paul became a subject of debate for politicians who attempted to assign blame to state and city officials for how they managed the crisis, while others pointed to historic factors of racial injustice that fueled public outrage.^[197] Even the terminology used to describe what happened in Minneapolis—"the riots" or "the uprising"—reflected growing political polarization in the United States at the time of Floyd's murder.^[129] Some commentators made comparisons of the May 2020 events in Minneapolis to the United States Capitol attack that occurred on January 6, 2021, but others disputed that the causes of violent actions and the aims of people participating in the two events differed.^[198][199]

The civil rights movement sparked by Floyd's murder, as well as mitigation measures over the COVID-19 pandemic, led to a surge in voter registration in 2020. In Minnesota, registration for identified Democrats doubled, while identified Republican registration was flat compared to prior periods.^[200] Young people of color at suburban high schools felt the awareness after Floyd's murder allowed them to push for changes to address discrimination, racism, and the racial achievement gap in schools.^[201] Social justice organizations in Minnesota experienced a boost in revenue as a result of momentum behind the Black Lives Matter movement in the wake of Floyd's murder, with companies such as the Target Corporation and U.S. Bank making multi-million dollar donations to local nonprofits.^[202]

There was speculation in early June 2020 that the unrest in Minneapolis could have an effect on the outcome of statewide elections in Minnesota, possibly reversing narrow Democratic victories in recent contests.^[203] Imagery from fires that burned on Lake Street during the unrest in Minneapolis and the mantra "defund the police" were featured in disputed political advertisements for President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign as a reason to vote against his opponent Joe Biden, though the Biden campaign did not support defunding the police and condemned rioting actions.^[204] Biden, however, won the state by a 7.12% margin, an improvement over Hillary Clinton's 1.52% margin in 2016. Biden's biggest gains from the 2016 election were in the suburbs of Minneapolis–Saint Paul where some residents identified systematic racism as a major problem in the country.^[205]

Unrest in the Twin Cities metropolitan area was a common theme in congressional races for smaller population centers and rural areas in Greater Minnesota. In her successful campaign to defeat longtime incumbent Colin Peterson, a member of the Democratic–Farmer–Labor caucus, for the Minnesota seventh congressional district seat, Republican Michelle Fischbach echoed Trump’s "law and order" rhetoric that blamed Democrats for unrest in America’s cities. Fischbach said in a candidate debate about non-metro residents, "They want to make sure the stuff going on in Minneapolis is not going to happen in their back yard."^[206] Similar themes were featured in Republican Jim Hagedorn successful reelection campaign against Democratic challenger Dan Feehan for the highly contested race for the Minnesota first congressional district seat. Hagedorn argued that lawlessness and the "defund the police" movement in Minneapolis could spread to rural towns in southern Minnesota.^[207][208]

In October 2020, Minnesota Senate Republicans released a 61-page report that placed blame on Walz and Frey for not doing enough to quell rioting behavior as the situation escalated in late May. The report was based on media stories, social media posts, and summer legislative hearings on the government response to unrest in the metro region. Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party Senators criticized the report for not mentioning Derek Chauvin, the officer who murdered Floyd, or the reasons for the community's prevailing distrust of the Minneapolis Police Department as factors fueling public outrage. The report came three weeks before the November 4 election that had both houses of the state legislature up for grabs.^[197] After the election, the Republican caucus held onto their narrow majority in the state senate while Democratic–Farmer–Labor maintained a majority in the state house, resulting in two more years of a divided state legislature.^[209]

Activist John Thompson, a friend of Philando Castile who was shot and killed by a Falcon Heights police officer in 2016, won as a Democratic–Farmer–Labor endorsed candidate for the state House District 67A that included east Saint Paul. Thompson had led a controversial protest outside the Hugo home of Minneapolis police union president Bob Kroll in August 2020, leading to an apology from Thompson for his use of inflammatory rhetoric.^[210]

With 86% of the vote in November 2020, Minneapolis voters approved a referendum about the timing of municipal elections, putting city council seats temporarily under two-year terms with the next election scheduled for 2021.^[211] A few days after the 2020 election, Minneapolis Council President Lisa Bender announced that she would not seek reelection to her tenth ward seat. Bender said her decision was made before the period of prolonged unrest in the city.^[212] In December 2020, Council Member Alondra Cano declined to seek reelection to her ninth ward seat. Cano represented the Lake Street area that sustained heavy damage during the May riots.^[213] Bender and Cano were among the nine city councilors that pledged to abolish the city's police department.^[214][213]

The 2021 Minneapolis municipal election campaign was influenced by the murder of Floyd the year prior, efforts to reform or dismantle the city's police department, and a sharp rise in homicides in the wake of unrest. In her political campaign, Sheila Nezhad, a candidate for mayor and street medic during the 2020 unrest, criticized Frey for not listening to the demand of protesters. Frey did not support abolishing the police force, but had favored incremental reforms. On November 2, 2021, voters reelected Frey to another mayoral team and rejected a ballot measure that would have replaced the Minneapolis Police Department with a Department of Public Safety.^[215] More than half of the 13 city council seats turned over after the 2021 election, and people of color compromised a majority for the first time in the city's history.^[216]

COVID-19 pandemic[]

Civic unrest after Floyd's murder came in the middle of the global COVID-19 pandemic caused by the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 respiratory infection. People wearing protective masks became a common sight at protests, but social distancing proved difficult. Many protesters had to weigh the risk of being infected with the virus against the desire to call for police accountability and structural change in Minneapolis.^[217] Health officials in Minnesota warned that mass protests could exacerbate the spread of the virus in Minnesota and trigger a surge in the outbreak that has a disproportionate impact on minority communities.^[218] In early June 2020, the state's health department stood up free testing clinics with the help of community organizations and encouraged people who participated in protests to get tested.^[219] By June 18, 2020, of the 3,200 people tested at four popup sites in the metropolitan region, 1.8 percent tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, while testing by private health care provider HealthPartners had a 0.99 percent positive rate among the 8,500 people it tested who said they attended a mass gathering. Kristen Ehresmann, infectious disease director for the state health department, remarked about the data, "it appears there was very little transmission at protest events”.^[220]

Crime statistics[]

Minneapolis experience a surge in violent crime in the weeks and months after the initial period of unrest in late May 2020.^[221] A dangerous amount of narcotics flooded the streets of the Twin Cities after the initial period unrest. At least 20 pharmacies in the region were plundered or burned to the ground in late May, including several independent stores and locations of chain pharmacies owned by Cub, CVS and Walgreens. The Drug Enforcement Administration estimated that one million doses of pills and syrups, with a street value of $15 million, were either stolen or destroyed.^[222]

Much of the elevated levels of violent crime in the immediate aftermath of Floyd's murder was concentrated in the fourth and third police precincts that experienced the heaviest riots and looting. By July, over 80 percent of gun violence victims in Minneapolis in 2020 were Black residents, which led to criticism of the police abolition movement for not addressing violence in the city's poorest and most diverse neighborhoods.^[223] By September, the Minneapolis police force lost 10 percent of its officers to a combination of resignations, terminations, retirements, and medical leave, and police activity in the summer fell by 30% compared the prior year, despite a considerable jump in gunfire reports, homicides, and violent crimes.^[224] At the beginning of 2021, the city's police force was down to 638 sworn officers, from the 877 sworn officers at the start of 2020.^[225] By November 2020, Minneapolis had tallied 375 carjackings, 500 people shot, and 79 homicides.^[180] By mid-December 2020, the city had 391 carjackings, compared to 93 the year before.^[226] The shooting death of Dolal Idd on December 30, 2020—the first killing by a Minneapolis police officer since Floyd^[227]—was reported as the city's 83 homicide of 2020,^[228] a number that eclipsed the previous two years combined.^[229]

By the end of 2020, Minneapolis reported 5,422 violent crimes in the year, a 21% increase compared to the 4,496 reported in 2019. Violence increased in almost all parts of the city compared to prior years, but poorer neighborhoods experienced the heaviest toll. The city tallied 84 homicides in 2020 according to a Star Tribune database, which put the year as the second most deadly after 1995 when the city was given the grim moniker, "Murderapolis".^[225] The moniker was again used to describe used the year after Floyd's murder in the city, with comparisons made to challenges of violent crime the city faced in the 1990s.^{[230][231][232]} Crime trends for Minneapolis were inline with other large U.S. cities that experienced a jump in homicide rates, which suggested that both the COVID-19 pandemic and racial unrest were possible factors. In Minneapolis, however, violent crime surged in the initial aftermath of rioting in late May, a trend similar to other cities that experienced unrest following a police killing, such as Baltimore in 2015 with the death of Freddy Gray in police custody.^[225] Some criminalists suggested the city experienced a "Minneapolis Effect" in the aftermath of riots over Floyd's murder, which alluded to the contested "Ferguson Effect" hypothesis in the aftermath of the 2014 shooting of Michael Brown in the U.S. state of Missouri, where less-active policing was theorized to have contributed to increases in the rates of homicides and other violent crimes.^[233][234]

In Saint Paul, the city experienced 33 homicides in 2020, which was just short of the 1992 record of 34, and higher than the 31 in 2019.^[235] In Minnesota, the state experienced an increase in violent crime and a record number of homicides in 2020, which generated political controversy, but it was not clear if the cause was the COVID-19 pandemic, civil unrest, a decline in policing, or other factors.^[236]

Encampments[]

The riots in late May 2020 also had impact on people experiencing homelessness and led to changes in city policies on homeless camps. Some unhoused persons who were displaced by the initial 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.^[237] The situation in the hotel, however, descended into chaos with extensive vandalism, rampant drug use, and violence. Residents at the hotel were evicted in mid June, and some set up a sprawling camp at the city's Powderhorn Park that grew to 560 tents by mid July.^[238][239] 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.^[240] The situation quickly grew out of the control of park board officials.^[241] Encampments spread to 40 park sites by summer and several remained into late 2020 despite efforts to connect residents to shelters.^[242] Encampments continued until the park board closed the last remaining one at Minnehaha Park on January 7, 2021. Four people died in encampments in Minneapolis city parks between June 2020 and January 2021, including a man who was stabbed death inside tent a Minnehaha Park on January 3, 2021, days before the park board closed encampments for good.^{[243][235][244]}

Reports and investigations[]

Law enforcement conduct[]

Approximately 550 complaints were filed against law enforcement for tactics used against protesters during the two-week period following Floyd's murder. The ACLU filed two lawsuits, one on behalf of protesters and one on behalf of journalists.^[245] The Minneapolis Police Department did not discipline any police officers for misconduct during the unrest despite widespread use of tear gas and less-lethal munitions. However, the city settled a lawsuit for $57,900 with one protester who was hit in the eye with a rubber bullet while walking from a demonstration on May 30, 2020. By January 2021, the city faced lawsuits from 11 other people, including another protester who lost an eye and required multiple face surgeries as a result of police shooting him with a rubber bullet. The only police officer who received disciplinary action related to the unrest was one who spoke anonymously with a news reporter about what she viewed as a toxic workplace culture at the police department.^[246]

The United States Justice Department announced on April 21, 2021, an investigation of the City of Minneapolis and Minneapolis Police Department for excessive force used against those engaging in activities protected by the First Amendment.^[247]

Civil lawsuits and claims[]

The City of Minneapolis faced $111 million in legal liabilities dating to the weeks after Floyd's murder. Of the total claims, $84 million stemmed from 13 officer-misconduct claims tied to incidents that happened up to 15 days after Floyd's murder during protests and riots. Several demonstrators and members of the press alleged that the Minneapolis police used excessive force and retaliation.^[248] The city was also liable for $20 million in workers compensation for 15 claims of post-traumatic stress disorder by police employees in 2020.^[248]

After-action report[]

In Minneapolis, city officials commissioned a report, due in January 2022, by an external consultant to review how the police department and city responded to civil disorder in the aftermath of Floyd's murder. The consulting team was given access to city officials, internal documents, and video footage, and directed to assess the how the city managed the police response, protected life and property, and ensured citizen's First Amendment rights to speech and assembly.^[249]

Media coverage[]

The documentary Say His Name: Five Days for George Floyd, released in 2021, contained footage of protests and unrest in south Minneapolis in the five days that elapsed between Floyd's murder and the criminal charges being filed against the four police officers. The director, Cy Dodson, lived in the neighborhood and filmed what he observed.^[250][251] The Minneapolis-based Star Tribune newspaper received the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for its reporting on Floyd's murder and the resulting aftermath. Darnella Frazier, the then 17-year old who filmed Floyd's arrest and murder on her cellphone, also received a Pulitzer special citation recognition in 2021 for her video.^[252]

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman characterized Minneapolis as a "dangerous and dystopian ghost city, racked by gun violence, since the police murder of George Floyd" in a June 22, 2021, opinion article.^[253] The piece, which also criticized the "defund the police" movement, received rebuke from local media for in their view mischaracterizing the social and economic plight of the city.^[254] While the Minneapolis-based Star Tribune newspaper's editorial board criticized Friedman for overstating problems in Minneapolis, it said that the levels of gun violence in the city had reached "intolerable" levels.^[255]

Maps[]

Major areas of civic unrest in Minneapolis and Saint Paul, May 27–29, 2020:

• 

  East Lake Street in Minneapolis

• 

  University Avenue West, in Saint Paul

• 

  Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis

See also[]

• 2020–2021 United States racial unrest
• George Floyd protests in Minnesota
• History of Minneapolis
• List of incidents of civil unrest in Minneapolis–Saint Paul
• Police brutality in the United States

References[]

Further reading[]

Arrangement is chronological.

• "Six months after George Floyd's death, what has changed in Minneapolis". PBS NewsHour. November 25, 2020.
• Kaske, Erika A.; Cramer, Samuel W.; Pena Pino, Isabela; Do, Truong H.; Ladd, Bryan M.; Sturtevant, Dylan T.; Ahmadi, Aliya; Taha, Birra; Freeman, David; Wu, Joel T.; Cunningham, Brooke A. (January 13, 2021). "Injuries from Less-Lethal Weapons during the George Floyd Protests in Minneapolis". The New England Journal of Medicine. 384 (8): 774–775. doi:10.1056/NEJMc2032052. ISSN 0028-4793. PMID 33440082.

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to George Floyd protests in Minneapolis–Saint Paul.

• City of Minneapolis Office of Emergency Management: Properties damaged during civil unrest, initial report, June 11, 2020
• Hennepin History Museum: Reading the Minneapolis Uprising
• Star Tribune: Video aftermath of rioting, looting (10 June 2020)