George Floyd protests in Minneapolis–Saint Paul

Several terms redirect here. For other uses, see list of civil unrest in Minneapolis–Saint Paul.

George Floyd protests in Minneapolis–Saint Paul
Part of Black Lives Matter movement and George Floyd protests.
Clockwise from top Protesters march in Minneapolis on May 26, 2020 Police station building set ablaze Volunteers clean up Ruins on East Lake Street Tear gas fired on protesters
Date	May 26, 2020 – present (4 years, 5 months, 2 weeks and 2 days)
Location	Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Minnesota
Caused by	Reaction to the killing of George Floyd by the Minneapolis Police Department Institutional racism against African Americans Economic, racial and social inequality
Goals	Murder charges for all officers involved End to police brutality To "defund the police" Resignation of Bob Kroll Resignation of Michael O. Freeman
Methods	Protests, demonstrations, civil disobedience, civil resistance, public art
Status	Ongoing
Aftermath
Death(s)	2
Arrested	604 by local law enforcement 13 by federal law enforcement
Damage	$500 million 1,500 property locations 150 buildings set on fire

The George Floyd protests in Minneapolis–Saint Paul are an ongoing series of civil unrest that began on May 26, 2020. Protests in Minneapolis, also referred to as the Minneapolis riots or Minneapolis uprising, were a response to the killing of George Floyd, a 46-year-old African-American man who died on May 25 during an arrest after Derek Chauvin, a Minneapolis Police Department officer, knelt on Floyd's neck for nearly eight minutes as three other officers looked on. Unrest spilled over into Saint Paul, other locations in the Twin Cities metropolitan region, and throughout the U.S. state of Minnesota. Floyd's death and local unrest inspired a global protest movement against police brutality and racial inequality.

The vast majority of protests in Minneapolis–Saint Paul have been peaceful. Over a three-night period from May 27 to May 29, Minneapolis sustained hundreds of millions in property damage from rioting and looting—largely along a 5-mile (8.0 km) stretch of Lake Street south of the city's downtown—including the demise of the city's third police precinct, which was overran and set it on fire by demonstrators after police forces retreated. Neighboring Saint Paul suffered damage to 246 buildings, mostly along the city's University Avenue business corridor. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz activated the state's National Guard in response to the riots, resulting in the largest deployment of its troops since World War II. By June 19, the violence in the Twin Cities had resulted in 2 deaths, 617 arrests, and upwards of $500 million in property damage to 1,500 buildings, the second-most destructive period of local unrest in United States history after the 1992 Los Angeles riots.

Violent protests subsided after May 30 as peaceful demonstrations continued and local officials pledged to change policing policies. Although the community responded with an outpouring of donations, food drives, volunteer cleanup efforts, and public art installments during the protests, the initial period of riots worsened local economic conditions and disproportionately impacted people of color and the cities' most vulnerable residents, whom were already impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in Minnesota.

Background

Killing of George Floyd

Main article: Killing of George Floyd

A memorial at the site of George Floyd's death, May 26, 2020

George Floyd, an unarmed African-American man, died while he was being detained by police in Minneapolis on May 25, 2020, shortly after 8:00 p.m. CDT, near the Cup Foods grocery store at the intersection of East 38th Street and Chicago Avenue. According to a video recorded by a bystander, a white police officer, Derek Chauvin, knelt on Floyd's neck for approximately eight minutes, while other officers J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane, and Tou Thao assisted with the arrest and held concerned onlookers back. Floyd can be heard repeatedly on a bystander's video saying: "I can't breathe", "Please", and "Mama". He appeared unconscious at the scene, and was pronounced dead at 9:25 p.m. after being transported by an ambulance to the Hennepin County Medical Center emergency room.

Racial disparities in Minnesota

The conditions that led to the uprising in Minneapolis were said to be the result of years of disinvestment and abondoment of the area around Lake Street in Minneapolis and city officials ignoring the needs of the community's black residents. By the beginning of the 21st century, Minneapolis was to home to some of the largest racial disparities in the United States. The city's population of people of color and Indigenous people fared worse than the city's white population for many measures of well being, such as health outcomes, academic achievement, income, and home ownership. The result of discriminatory policies and racism over the course of the city's history, racial disparities was described as the most significant issue facing Minneapolis in the first decades of the 2000s. By 2015, homeownership rates in the Twin Cities were 75 percent for white families, but only 23 percent for black families, one of the largest disparities in the nation. By 2018, unemployment for blacks in Minnesota had reached a historic low of 6.9 percent, but it was still three times higher than the rate for whites. Though black residents made up just 6 percent of U.S. state of Minnesota's population, they were nearly 37 percent of the state's prison population in 2016. By the 2020s, generations of the city's black residents had not experienced the same levels of comforts and asset accumulation as the white residents.

Recent shootings of residents by police

George Floyd's death was viewed as just the latest instance of police violence in Minneapolis where 11 people had been killed by police officers since 2010. In 2015, the shooting of Jamar Clark, a black man, by a Minneapolis police officer led to controversy and protests; it was later determined by prosecutors that the officers had acted in self defense and no charges were filed. In 2016, the shooting of Philando Castile, a black man, in nearby Falcon Heights resulted in several weeks of protests and unrest, and the criminal case ended with a jury acquittal for the involved officer after a 10-month process. In 2017, the shooting of Justine Damond, a white women, led to a 12-year prison sentence for the police officer, a black man, who shot her.

In many instances where Minneapolis officers justified the use of aggressive force against civilians, the police department developed a pattern of releasing officer statements that were later contradicted by video and other evidence, leading to several civil rights and wrongful death lawsuits. Some felt that the judicial system was inconsistent and that it did not hold white police officers who killed black men accountable for their actions, and the video of Floyd begging for relief while being pinned by Chauvin generated further concern and anger for both white and black residents in the city. Floyd's death was also the third in a string of high-profile incidents where unarmed black Americans were killed in 2020, Ahmaud Arbery in Atlanta on February 23 and Breonna Taylor in Louisville on March 13. It was unclear if demonstrators were angered only by the graphic video of Floyd's death or by the culmination of recent incidents in the United States.

Distrust of the Minneapolis police force

In Minneapolis, by 2020, the relationship between the community, particularly among city's black residents, and the Minneapolis Police Department had deteriorated after several killings of residents by police officers and displays of racial insensitivity by police leaders. In the city's Powderhorn Park neighborhood, where Floyd was killed, some argued there was a persisting distrust between the police and black community. The head of the police union representing Minneapolis officers, Bob Kroll, was a continuing source of controversy, having called Black Lives Matter a "terrorist organization" in 2016 after the officers involved in Clark's death were cleared of wrongdoing. His appearance at a political rally for Donald Trump's presidential campaign in 2019 generated controversy for some when Kroll said that Trump would “let cops do their job, put the handcuffs on the criminals instead of [on] us”. Along with past displays of racial insensitivity by the Minneapolis Police Department, such as an incident with a "ghetto" Christmas tree that officers put up at the fourth police precinct station in 2018, the police relationship had eroded with the community, particularly for its black residents.

Events

For broader coverage of this topic, see George Floyd protests and George Floyd protests in Minnesota.

The day after Floyd's death

Tuesday, May 26

A protester in Minneapolis carries an "I can't breathe" sign, May 26, 2020

The morning of Tuesday, May 26, a police statement about the incident the night before said that a suspected money forger had "physically resisted" arrest and suffered "medical distress" after being handcuffed by officers, leading to his death. The statement, which made no mention of officer Chauvin's knee on Floyd's neck, came a few hours before a bystander's video surfaced and became widely circulated in the media. The police department never explained why the initial statement differed from events captured in a bystander video. The four officers at the scene of Floyd's death were placed on paid administrative leave, a standard protocol, pending further investigation.

After the bystander's video became more widely circulated, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo held a late-morning press conference to react to the graphic details captured in it and express solidarity with the community's growing sense of anger. "The simple truth is that he should be with us this morning," Frey said of Floyd. Arradondo added, "Being Black in America should not be a death sentence."

The first organized protests emerged by midday. A makeshift memorial was created at East 38th Street and Chicago Avenue where the incident with Floyd and the Minneapolis police took place. Some protesters that gathered there chanted, "I can't breathe, I can't breathe", words repeated multiple times by Floyd in the video. As thousands of people flooded the same intersection, organizers emphasized keeping the protest peaceful.

By the middle of the afternoon, Arradondo had fired the city's four officers at the scene of Floyd's arrest and death, a move supported by Frey. However, protesters and Floyd's family called for murder charges for all four officers involved and swift judicial consequences, as the FBI and Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension opened investigations of the incident. Bob Kroll, president of the Minneapolis police officer's union, said the firing of the officers occurred without due process and offered "full support of the officers" during the investigations.

Just before dusk, the protest rally at the location of Floyd's death became a two-mile (3.2 km) march to the Minneapolis Police Department's third precinct police station where the four officers involved were believed to work. At the station, protesters rallied peacefully with megaphones and signs on the steps at the building's entrance. The main protest group disbanded later in the evening, however a rowdier group broke away and began stray-painting graffiti on the precinct building and smashing windows of an empty police vehicle while some protesters urged them to stop. Newly-elected city council member Jeremiah Ellison, who had participated in prior protests against the police after the killing of black men, advised the mayor to not interfere with those vandalizing police property, hoping to spare the surrounding neighborhood.

The situation escalated when some demonstrators breached the station's gated parking lot, and Arradondo ordered the police to move in with tear gas and rubber bullets to push them back, a move he later told reporters was because some officers kept weapons in their vehicles that could be taken. In response, demonstrators threw rocks, water bottles, and anything they could get their hands on towards the officers. The unruly crowd clashing with the police was measured in the hundreds, and noted as a contrast from the peaceful group at the start of the protest. Many protesters viewed the police response as an overreaction that only made the crowd angrier.

A separate group of protesters gathered outside the Oakdale home of Derek Chauvin that night.

The riots and uprising

Day 1: Wednesday, May 27

Police and protesters stand off outside the third precinct station in Minneapolis, May 27, 2020

Under-construction apartment complex on fire in Minneapolis, May 27, 2020

Protests in Minneapolis continued on Wednesday, May 27, at several locations throughout the city. At the location where Floyd died, protesters were led through prayer and a series of chants. By late morning, a group of protesters blocked the nearby intersection as they repeated, "Whose streets? Our streets." Some protesters left memorials by the Cup Foods store, while some spray painted the words "Justice for Floyd" and "Black Lives Matter" on the street surface. No police were present and the scene was described as peaceful.

The tone of protests shifted that afternoon when a crowd gathered at the third precinct station two miles (3.2 km) from the spot were Floyd died. The rally was initially peaceful, but police later fired rubber bullets and chemical irritants as some protesters began breaking the precinct's windows; some activists again tried to stop people from vandalizing it further. As police forcefully advanced with tear gas, protesters scattered throughout the area.

At an AutoZone store on East Lake Street, adjacent to the third police precinct station, a masked man carrying an umbrella and sledgehammer was recorded on video breaking windows and spray painting graffiti encouraging looting. Some protesters confronted him and asked him to stop. Later in the evening, the same AutoZone store was set on fire. The situation on East Lake Street worsened when a nearby Target store was extensively looted by a crowd of about 100 people. Minneapolis City Council member Andrew Johnson, who represented the area, blamed the police for the unfolding destruction, saying "It looked like they were defending the Alamo and letting the community burn". Council member Jeremiah Ellison said in a media interview that night that the police should "sacrifice" the station, while council member Linea Palmisano expressed privately to a city official that such a move would result in "ultimate chaos".

Violence continued overnight as rioters ignited fires and looted stores across the city. One mile (1.6 km) from the main protest site, Calvin Horton Jr., a 43-year-old man from Minneapolis, was fatally shot by a pawnshop owner who believed he was burglarizing his business. Dozens of buildings were looted or destroyed along the city's busy north and south side business corridors, with most incidents occurring in the vicinity of the third precinct station. Among the losses was Midtown Corner, an under-construction, $30 million redevelopment project for 189 units of affordable housing, which was destroyed by fire after being torched. The response from firefighters in the area was delayed as crews required police escorts for protection from rioters.

That night, Frey reached out to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and requested the help of the Minnesota National Guard, but the city government seemed unaware of the timeline and logistics of troop deployment, and relegated tactical coordination to the police force. However, knowing that it would take some time for the National Guard to mobilize, Frey and city leaders began discussing ways to deescalate the situation.

Day 2: Thursday, May 28

Protest march in downtown Minneapolis, May 28, 2020

Scenes of protests and looting in Minneapolis, May 28, 2020

State of emergency

By the morning of May 28, more than 30 businesses in Minneapolis had been damaged or destroyed by rioters. Chief Arradondo remarked that, in his view, the majority of protests the previous day were peaceful, but were "hijacked" by some who were looting and vandalizing businesses. Minneapolis city officials hoped that the worst had already passed.

To quell riotous behavior, Mayor Frey declared a state of emergency to allow for more flexibility in the city's response. Frey and Arradondo also began quietly preparing for the contingency of surrendering the third precinct station in Minneapolis if violence escalated. Few people knew of the plan outside of some officers stationed there and nearby business owners that had heard rumors and noticed the station's parking lot being emptied.

Businesses throughout the Twin Cities spent the day boarding up windows and doors to prevent looting. Among them, the Target Corporation announced closures for all of its area stores. Saint Paul police officers armed with batons and gas masks patrolled the city's busiest commercial corridor and kept looters out of a Target store while other business windows were smashed. Minneapolis preemptively shut down its light-rail system and bus service through Sunday out of safety concerns. Officials pleaded with metro area residents to stay home that night to prevent further property destruction. African American Saint Paul mayor Melvin Carter said, "Please stay home. Please do not come here to protest. Please keep the focus on George Floyd, on advancing our movement and on preventing this from ever happening again."

At 4 p.m. CDT, Governor Walz formally activated 500 National Guard troops and deployed them to the Twin Cities area, at the request of city leaders. Walz commented, "George Floyd's death should lead to justice and systemic change, not more death and destruction." Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan added, "the demonstration last night became incredibly unsafe for all involved. The purpose of the National Guard is to protect people, to protect people safely demonstrating, and to protect small business owners." Walz also said it would take guard troops a few days to fully mobilize.

Case against the officers delayed

State and federal prosecutors held a press conference in the late afternoon at a regional FBI office in Brooklyn Center, a Minneapolis suburb, in what was anticipated to be a major development to the case against the officers who were at the scene of Floyd's death. However, Hennepin County Attorney Michael O. Freeman, the local official with jurisdiction to bring forth criminal charges for police misconduct, said his office needed more time to investigate. In explaining the anticipation of the media briefing and its two-hour delayed start, U.S. Attorney Erica MacDonald said, "I thought we would have another development to talk to you about, but we don’t". Weeks later, on June 9, it was revealed that state and federal prosecutors were negotiating a plea deal with former officer Derek Chauvin at the time that would have included state murder charges and federal civil rights charges, but the deal fell apart for reasons that were not fully explained.

From calm to chaos

Several stores set ablaze on East Lake Street in Minneapolis, May 28, 2020

Thousands of peaceful protesters again marched the streets and called for justice for George Floyd during the day. Hundreds of demonstrators in Minneapolis also returned to the area near the third precinct police station, where Frey and Arradondo had deliberately reduced the street presence of the police. By the evening, police reports said the crowd was "engaged in peaceful activity" as some were said to be grilling, listening to music, and socializing. It was not until after dark the crowd grew more restless, when looting of a nearby Target store resumed and a vehicle and building were set on fire.

Multiple large, mobile crowds and chaos were reported across the city by nightfall. A crowd of 1,500 protesters were marching through a downtown shopping district in Minneapolis where there were 400 state troopers present. Another large crowd advanced on the city's first police precinct station near Hennepin Avenue and 5th Street and smaller crowds gathered elsewhere. “We were defending an entire city with 600 officers against thousands and thousands of protestors,” said Frey of the events later.

The intensity of demonstrations increased as dozens of businesses were looted and set on fire on East Lake Street in Minneapolis near the city's third police precinct station. Looters broke into a liquor store across the street from the station and passed out bottles to the crowd, and then set the store on fire. The nearby Max It Pawn store was set on fire as it was being looted. Bystanders discovered that a person was trapped inside the building, but were unable to help guide them out after frantically removing some plywood from windows and shining flashlights inside. Fire crews that arrived later found the building too unstable for a rescue operation into the structure. The body of the victim, the second death during the unrest, was not recovered until nearly two months later on July 20, 2020.

Loss of the third precinct station

Demonstrators surround the Minneapolis police third precinct station as it is engulfed in flames, May 28, 2020

Late that night the focus of demonstrators shifted to the police station building itself. Some threw objects at officers who responded by firing rubber bullets. Demonstrators eventually tore down fencing surrounding the precinct station and police responded with tear gas. As tensions and fires in the area mounted, Frey gave the order to evacuate the station, a tactic he later said was to deescalate the situation and prevent further loss of life. The building was then overrun by protesters and set on fire. Despite the evacuation order there were still at least 13 police officers in the building with some reportedly sending texts to loved ones in fear of their lives.

Officers retreating from the building in squad vehicles had to crash through the parking lot gate as it been padlocked at some point by protesters. Demonstrators then moved in and threw bottles and debris at the fleeing officers who eventually made their way to a rendezvous site three blocks away. At 10:13 p.m. CDT, chief Arradondo announced over police radio, “City wide tone right now, for the loss of the Third Precinct”. After that moment, there were no police, fire, or emergency medical services presence in the area where the riots occurred as live television news broadcast scenes of escalating destruction. Surrounded by a unruly crowd, the station burned until the early morning hours of May 29 when firefighting crews reached the area and eventually extinguished fires.

The several-hundred contingent of state patrol and National Guard troops on the ground in Minneapolis that night largely escorted fire trucks around and protected a Federal Reserve building and areas of downtown Minneapolis. Walz remarked later that city had not given directions on where to deploy troops as the violence escalated on East Lake Street. State officials also remarked that the city's decision to abandon the precinct station was a misjudgment, allowing demonstrators to create a situation of "absolute chaos", in the words of Walz.

Saint Paul and elsewhere

In neighboring Saint Paul, which had been spared from widespread property destruction on Wednesday night, 170 businesses were damaged or looted and dozens of fires had been started, with the largest ones near Snelling and University avenues, but no major injuries were reported. The Midway Shopping Center and Sun Ray Shopping Center in Saint Paul, and the Rosedale Center stores in a nearby suburb, were looted.

Day 3: Friday, May 29

Minnesota State Patrol officers stand wearing riot gear in Minneapolis, May 29, 2020

Scenes of fires and damage in Minneapolis, May 29, 2020

Mayor Frey addressed the media at 1:30 a.m. CDT as the city was battling multiple fires and violence. Frey acknowledged the anger in the community over Floyd's death, but condemned the actions of rioters and looters. In defense of his decision to have police withdraw from the third precinct station, he said, "Brick and mortar is not as important as life".

That day, Governor Walz imposed a state curfew for the cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul that would run from 8:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. on Friday, May 29 and Saturday, May 30. The order prohibited travel in streets or gathering at public places. Frey also issued an overlapping local curfew in Minneapolis. Meanwhile, the Target Corporation expanded its closure of stores to 73 in Minnesota.

In the late afternoon, Hennepin County Attorney Michael O. Freeman charged Derek Chauvin, the officer who knelt on Floyd's neck as he died, with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter, but new charges for officers Lane, Kueng, and Thao, who were at the scene of Floyd's death, remained pending. Protesters, who had demanded immediate murder charges against all four officers, were disappointed after waiting four days since Floyd's death and made the criminal charges a big part of their message that day.

The de-escalation strategy of abandoning the third precinct station the previous night was said to have little affect on quelling unrest on Friday. Despite the announcement of the charges against the officers involved in Floyd's death and the new curfew, riots broke out again on Friday night and continued into early Saturday morning, with much of the action taking place adjacent to the Minneapolis police fifth precinct station near Lake Street and Nicollet Avenue; 75 fires were reported in Minneapolis from Friday night into Saturday. Law enforcement presence was reportedly "undetectable", as violence in Minneapolis quickly grew until just before midnight, when police officers, state troopers, and members of the National Guard began confronting rioters with tear gas and mass force.

Officials later said that the 350 police officers at the site of rioting near the Minneapolis fifth precinct station were vastly outnumbered by the crowds. Walz explained that the scope of the chaos, the time it takes to mobilize guard troops, and the mobile nature of the crowds made it difficult to direct response forces. Minnesota Department of Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington said that protests were active at several sites through the city and that there were not enough officers to safely and successfully undertake multiple missions.

As the events unfolded that night, the Pentagon placed members of the Military Police Corps from Fort Bragg and Fort Drum on stand-by, preparing for possible deployment to the Twin Cities if requested by Walz. Walz later declined the offer and activated all of the state's National Guard, up to 13,200 troops.

Unrest subsides

Saturday, May 30

Volunteers with brooms pose for a photo in Minneapolis, May 30, 2020

Smoke and the sound of helicopters filled the sky in Minneapolis through the night as multiple fires burned near the fifth police precinct in south Minneapolis. A United States Post Office on Nicollet, a Wells Fargo Bank branch, and several gas stations, among other business, blazed. Several businesses also burned on West Broadway in north Minneapolis, including a barbershop that was destroyed by fire. Officials were unable to immediately attend to major fires, citing security concerns at the sites, but later reached them when they could be accompanied by patrols.

For the second time in as many nights, officials held a press conference at 1:30 a.m. CDT, but this time in Saint Paul and led by the governor and state officials. Some officials speculated that much of the destruction was being caused by people from outside the state, a claim that was later contradicted by arrest records of protesters and that officials walked back. It was reported that mayor Frey and governor Walz appeared visibly exhausted as they made emotional pleas to the public about Floyd's death and the escalation of violence. "The absolute chaos — this is not grieving, and this is not making a statement [about an injustice] that we fully acknowledge needs to be fixed — this is dangerous," Walz said. "You need to go home." Walz also took responsibility for underestimating the size of the crowds causing destruction earlier in the night.

Officials mobilized guard troops throughout Saturday expecting even larger crowds. Groups of people continued to gather at the makeshift memorial at the site of Floyd's arrest and subsequent death. Minneapolis police reported that another group of protesters near Hiawatha Avenue and Lake Street were attacking police by throwing nondescript objects, and deployed more units to the area. That night after curfew, police fired tear gas at a group of protesters who were attempting to march from Minneapolis to Saint Paul via the Lake Street bridge.

By the night of May 30, the Minnesota National Guard neared full deployment levels. Street violence began to subside as protests returned to being largely peaceful events. No buildings were set on fire in Minneapolis and Saint Paul on Saturday night, unlike the previous three nights.

Sunday, May 31

Protesters gather at the state capitol in Saint Paul, May 31, 2020

By the morning of May 31, 5,025 Minnesota National Guard troops were conducting missions with more on the way. Protests and rallies were held at various locations throughout the Minneapolis–Saint Paul region. Crowds of people once again gathered at the site of Floyd's arrest and subsequent death. Speakers at a “Justice for George Floyd” rally at the state capitol building in Saint Paul spoke about police brutality and called for the arrest of the other three officers at the scene of Floyd's death. A peaceful crowd marched westbound on I-94 before heading down University Avenue in Saint Paul.

A dramatic event unfolded shortly after 6:00 p.m. CDT, when an estimated crowd of 5,000 to 6,000 people gathered on the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis. Protesters, believing police forces had fully closed the interstate highway after they marched on to it, began taking a knee. A semi-truck tanker, unaware the road was closed, drove through the crowd as they parted ways to avoid being run down. After the driver came to a halt, he was pulled from his cab and beaten by the surrounding crowd. He suffered minor injuries, as some of the protesters attempted to protect him. They delivered the driver to the police, who then pepper-sprayed the crowd. The truck driver, later identified as Bogdan Vechirko, was taken to Hennepin County Medical Center then released into the custody of the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, which initially charged him with assault. No serious injuries to the people on the bridge were reported. Minnesota Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington denied that Vechirko did the act intentionally, and the trucker was released pending further investigation.

More than 100 people gathered outside the home of Hennepin County Attorney Michael O. Freeman to call for a special prosecutor to handle the case against the Minneapolis officers at the scene of Floyd's death. Activists criticized the four-day delay that it took Freeman's office to bring charges against Chauvin and the lack of charges against the other three officers involved. Later in the day, Walz and Freeman agreed that Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison would assist in the investigation.

Monday, June 1

Thousands gathered peacefully at the state capitol building in Saint Paul and marched to the governor's mansion, calling for police reforms and the prosecution of all four officers who were involved in Floyd's death. Nearly 30 Saint Paul police officers on the outskirts of the rally took a knee, which drew criticism from rally organizers who felt the gesture was a hollow public relations stunt and asked them to leave. Activist Nekima Levy Armstrong, citing distrust of Attorney General Keith Ellison, demanded that Floyd's case be handled outside the state. State governor Tim Walz attended part of the rally but did not speak publicly.

Tuesday, June 2

Thousands of people gathered for several peaceful protests across the Twin Cities. Reflecting on social justice action during the United States civil rights era, faith leaders held corresponding marches in south Minneapolis and Saint Paul. A dozen area high school students organized a "sit in" at the state capitol building in Saint Paul that had an estimated crowd of 3,000 people. Somber protests continued at the Minneapolis intersection were Floyd was killed and a group remained after the curfew time came and went.

Wednesday, June 3

On June 3, Ellison, who four days earlier took over the case against the officers involved in Floyd's death, upgraded the murder charges against former officer Chauvin and charged former officers Kueng, Lane, and Thao with aiding and abetting second-degree murder. Floyd's family called the charges “a significant step forward on the road to justice". Walz, who visited the Floyd memorial in Minneapolis where crowds continued to gather, said he recognized "that the anguish driving protests around the world is about more than one tragic incident".

Thursday, June 4

George Floyd memorial site in Minneapolis

Some protests continued Thursday as the family of George Floyd held a memorial service for him at North Central University in Minneapolis, about three miles (4.8 km) from where he died on May 25. Many state and local officials attended, including governor Walz, U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar, Saint Paul Mayor Melvin Carter, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, and Police Chief Medaria Arradondo. The service also drew national officials and civil rights leaders, such as Martin Luther King III, Reverends Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, as well as several celebrity figures. A reverent crowd gathered at nearby Elliot Park to listen to a broadcast of the memorial on loudspeakers where free food, groceries, and dry goods were provided.

Friday, June 5

Thousands gathered for a rally at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis to honor the life of Floyd and call for police reform measures. Former NBA basketball player Royce White, a featured speaker at the event that brought civil rights organizations and professional athletes together, called for the resignation of police union president Bob Kroll. The protest group marched through the city in the early evening.

As nights grew calmer, curfews that had been in place since the previous Friday ended in the Twin Cities.

Other notable protests

June 6: Protests in Minneapolis were mostly peaceful. A march to the home of the mayor resulted in a confrontation where Frey was called to come out and asked if he supported abolishing the city's police force. After Frey responded that he did not, the crowd booed him away. In a speech that resonated with the gathered crowd, United States Representative Ilhan Omar denounced the city's police force as "inherently beyond reform".

A "defund police" sign and stage before a rally at Powderhorn Park in Minneapolis, June 7, 2020

June 7: In Minneapolis, a large crowd gathered for a rally at the city's Powderhorn Park calling for more changes to the city's police force. Nine of the thirteen members on the Minneapolis City Council in attendance vowed on stage to "dismantle" the police department, but concrete details about it were less defined. Activists at the rally wanted to replace the police department with unarmed public safety responders.

June 10: An American Indian Movement group tore down a statue of Christopher Columbus outside the state capitol building in Saint Paul as the global protest movement turned towards removing monuments and memorials with controversial legacies.

June 12: Protesters gathered at the Police Officers Federation building in Minneapolis to demand the resignation of Bob Kroll, head of the city's police union, who had characterized the protests and Black Lives Matter as a "terrorist organization". Thousands of people stretched in every direction from the federation building and listened to speeches by community leaders. A smaller protest group gathered at the Hennepin County Government Center to demand Freeman's resignation over his handling of officer-involved shootings in Minneapolis.

June 19: At dozens of Juneteenth commemorations that were held in the metropolitan area, including in Minneapolis near the former third precinct station and at the location where Floyd died, participants connected police brutality to the historic legacy of slavery in the United States. The Minnesota Black Lives Matter chapter that rallied at the state capitol building in Saint Paul called on state lawmakers who were meeting in a special legislative session to agree on police reform measures.

Juneteenth march in north Minneapolis, June 19, 2020

June 24: Protesters gathered outside the governor's mansion in Saint Paul and called on the governor to reconvene the legislature in a special session for the purpose of passing police reform measures. Lawmakers had recently adjourned a special session without agreeing to legislation on the topic.

June 25: Hundreds of protesters again gathered outside of the Minneapolis Police Federation to call for the removal of Bob Kroll as the organization's leader. Kroll had earlier said he would not step down from the post. The protesters said they would continue protesting until their demands were met.

June 28: Despite cancellation of official Twin Cities Pride festivities, protesters gathered in downtown Minneapolis and called for justice for Floyd, greater protections for black transgender people, community control of policing, and the freeing of "political prisoners".

July 4: Thousands took part in several peaceful demonstrations in Minneapolis and called for racial equity and justice for George Floyd. Organizers of two marches, dubbed "Black 4th", through predominately white areas of the city sought to continue the momentum for police reform and raise awareness about social justice issues.

July 6: Four years after the shooting of Philando Castile by a police officer in the Twin Cities' suburb of St. Anthony, several Black Lives Matter rallies were held that commemorated Castile and connected it to the global protest movement about racism and police brutality sparked by Floyd's death.

July 19: Hundreds of protesters marched in the Twin Cities' suburb of Roseville to show support for racial equity in response to the vandalism of Black Lives Matter signs and after a raccoon was nailed to a utility pole in what appeared to be a deliberate racial statement.

July 23: Minnesotans gathered at a federal courthouse and marched through downtown Minneapolis in opposition to the deployment of federal troops to protests in Portland, Oregon.

July 24: Hundreds of protesters for police accountability that attempted to march to the Bloomington civic plaza encountered a pro-police, counter-protest group at West 98th Street, resulting in some shoving and several punches thrown.

Response

Government actions

Attacks on bystanders and reporters

Street medics tend to a protester sprayed with chemical irritants in Minneapolis, May 27, 2020

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. 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 at a gather crowd after curfew. 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. A video circulated online showing police officers enforcing curfew ordering residents on their porches to go inside, and after a few demands, firing paint rounds at the residents. Several other incidents between bystanders and law enforcement generated controversy, including some that were also captured on video. 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 Walz, the crew was released an hour later. 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.

Curfews imposed on residents

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. The curfew in Minneapolis prohibited all forms and modes of travels with exceptions for those that need to travel for work. Those breaking curfew could face fines 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". 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.

Formal 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. Mayors Frey and Carter also declared local emergencies in their cities the same day. Walz issued a proclamation declaring eight minutes 46 seconds of silence at 11:00 a.m. CDT on June 9, 2020, in memory of Floyd, which coincided with the beginning of Floyd's funeral in Houston, Texas He also proclaimed June 19 as "Juneteenth Freedom Day" and called on the legislature to make it an annual state holiday.

National Guard deployment

Minnesota National Guard and local law enforcement stand guard at the state capitol building in Saint Paul, May 30, 2020

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. The mission was to support local law enforcement, safeguard the state capitol building, and protect the right of people to protest. It was not until Saturday night, May 30, 2020, that the state's National Guard deployment was fully mobilized, after which the unrest subsided and the protests returned to being largely peaceful events. 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.

Criticism of delayed response

The Minnesota National Guard's delayed arrival to areas were unrest was occurring received criticism for "lagging" in its response to the riots. After being activated by Gov. Walz on May 28, 2020 Jensen claimed he and other guardsman were not provided clear directions by Walz on how to respond to the protests and riots. It was noted that no Minnesota National Guardsmen were present during the May 29, 2020 riot which destroyed numerous businesses in Minneapolis and did not clear streets until the next day. In August 2020, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey claimed that Walz had in fact hesitated before he deployed the National Guard to Minneapolis.

Speculation about outside influences

Officials had trouble identifying the people responsible for causing destruction as the peaceful protests transitioned to riots. By May 30, Minnesota state law enforcement had recovered incendiaries, weapons, and stolen vehicles left in the areas of heated protests. Early in the events, state and local officials claimed that "white supremacists" and "outside agitators" might be responsible. Walz initially speculated that as much as 80% of people causing destruction and lighting fires could be from outside the state; several analysis of arrest records later contradicted the statement, finding that under 20% were. Carter said that all of the people arrested in Saint Paul by May 30 were from outside Minnesota, a claim he later rescinded. 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 never came to pass. Federal, state, and local officials refused to comment on the documents, saying they were obtained illegally and contained law enforcement-sensitive information.

Surrender of the third precinct station

The destroyed third precinct station in Minneapolis, May 30, 2020.

Built in 1985, the third precinct station in south Minneapolis was overrun by protesters and officially lost on Thursday, May 28, 2020. It is a matter of debate whether the decision by city officials to abandon it helped save lives or inspired more violence. Arradondo, Frey, and other city leaders prepared as early as Wednesday, May 27 for the possibility of surrendering the station, which had been the location of tense protests beginning the evening of Tuesday, May 26, a day after Floyd's arrest and death.

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. The precinct had a reputation over the preceding years for what the community considered aggressive policing by officers. One protester said of watching the station burn that it felt like therapy after years of contention following the killing of metro area residents, including several black men, by police officers.

Hennepin County officials estimated the cost to replace the police station, either at the prior location or at a new location, was $10 million.

Community actions

Cleanup of property damage

People clean sidewalks of debris in Minneapolis, May 30, 2020

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 death. 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.

Food drives

Residents took action to support the needs of people for food and goods who were affected by the riots. 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.

George Floyd memorial site

A makeshift memorial emerged at the East 38th Street and Chicago Avenue intersection in Minneapolis near where Floyd was killed by a police officer on May 25. Thousands of visitors protested and grieved at the site, which was described as like a "shrine". Many visitors left behind flowers by the murals and sculptures created by activists to symbolize the Black Lives Matter movement. The Minneapolis police said in June that they would not alter or decommission the memorial site or remove artifacts. Police officers largely avoided the area in the months after Floyd's death. However, violent crime and drug overdoses by night, and the disruption to public transit and business activity by day, had city officials looking for ways in late July to create a permanent memorial while also opening the intersection back up.

In early August, the re-opening of the Cup Foods convenience store, which a 9-1-1 call from an employee led to the fatal encounter between Floyd and Minneapolis police, generated controversy. Some protesters demanded that the store remain closed for continued mourning and confronted store owners who vowed to keep the store open anyway. The store, owned by a Palestinian-American family, had been been a fixture in the neighborhood for three decades. The area around it had also been the location of violent crime, illicit drug dealing, loitering, and undercover police surveillance. For customers, the store provided fresh produce and commodities such as cigarettes and pre-paid cellphone minutes. Though Floyd lived 20 minutes away in the nearby suburb of St. Louis Park, he was a frequent costumer at the store.

The Minneapolis Planning Commission recommend to the city council that the length of Chicago Avenue between 37th and 39th streets be named as “George Perry Floyd Jr Place”.

Public art installments

Murals in Minneapolis of George Floyd, Tony McDade, and Breonna Taylor by artist Leslie Barlow, June 15, 2020

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. 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. 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 death, and a digital rendering of it served as a backdrop to his casket at his funeral in Houston, Texas. 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 death. 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.

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. 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.

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. Several establishments near Lake Street posted signs 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. 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.

Aftermath

Arrests and investigations

For the case against the four police officers, see Killing of George Floyd § Investigations and criminal charges.

A destroyed U.S. Post Office building in Minneapolis, June 4, 2020

Federal arson and rioting charges

In the weeks following the initial protests, federal law enforcement opened investigations of people who instigated looting and arson. By July 15, 2020, the United States Attorney had announced federal criminal charges for 13 people, including for three who participated in the burning of the third police precinct in Minneapolis. Most of the people charged for rioting or arson during the unrest had ties to the U.S. state of Minnesota. Authorities identified many suspects via videos they posted of themselves at protests on social media websites.

Local criminal charges

The multi-agency, law enforcement command center for the Twin Cities announced that 604 protesters had been arrested as of June 2 during the course of events. Several hundred of those arrested were described as participating in peaceful protests, but were taken into custody at night for violating curfew. 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. Many people charged with violating curfew faced potential fines of up to $1,000 or 90 days in jail. By July 15, 2020, the city of Minneapolis had charges pending for 493 people that had violated curfew or unlawfully assembled, and the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office had announced plans to prosecute 15 people for alleged burglaries during the unrest. In Saint Paul, 87 of the 100 people arrested during the unrest were for curfew violations. City attorney Lyndsey Olson said that cases would be dismissed for people engaging in peaceful protests that did not involve acts of violence.

White supremacist involvement

Some initial acts of property destruction on May 27 by a 32-year-old man with ties to white supremacist organizations, who local police investigators said was deliberately inciting racial tension, led to what a police investigator said in a court document was a chain reaction of fires and looting. The person, nicknamed "Umbrella Man", who dressed in black clothing and carried an umbrella and sledgehammer, was seen on video breaking windows at an AutoZone store near the third police precinct, as well as spray-painting "free shit for everyone zone" on the store. Later that day, the AutoZone store was set on fire by unknown persons. He also made violent threats to a photojournalist who happened to capture images of him in the background of a news report. The identify of the person was unknown until late July, when arson investigators with the Minneapolis police announced that they had identified him. The suspect had ties to the Hells Angels and Aryan Cowboy Brotherhood, and he participated in the harassment of a Muslim woman in Stillwater, Minnesota in June that received media coverage. The man had not yet been charged with a crime as of July 28, 2020. 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.

Deaths

Protesters at the boarded-up Cadillac Pawn shop in Minneapolis, July 21, 2020

Two deaths were reported as a result of the civil unrest in Minneapolis.

The investigation into the death of Calvin Horton Jr. did not result in charges for the owner of the Cadillac Pawn shop in Minneapolis who shot him. Horton Jr., a 43-year-old man from Minneapolis, was fatally shot by a 59-year-old man from Galesville, Wisconsin who owned the pawn shop and believed that Horton Jr. was attempting to break in at night on May 27. The pawn shop owner was initially arrested on possible murder charges. However, he was later released without charges and the case remained under investigation as of late June 2020. The family and supporters of Horton, Jr. gathered outside the Cadillac Pawn shop on July 21 to demanded the owner of the pawn shop who shot him be charged with murder.

Federal and state authorities recovered a body at the Max It Pawn store on July 20, 2020, that appeared to have suffered thermal injuries. The pawn shop, located a few blocks east of the third precinct station, was destroyed by fire during rioting on May 28. A 25-year-old man from Rochester, Minnesota was federally charged in June with arson for the particular fire. The identify of the adult male victim was not released by officials who said they were investigating the death as a homicide.

Law enforcement reform

State and city policies

Further information: Minneapolis Police Department § 2020 reforms

The widespread protests and a significant public scrutiny of its law enforcement policies led to reforms of policing in Minneapolis and the U.S. state of Minnesota. 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 an officer used in the incident when George Floyd was killed. 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. The park board also announced changes to the park police uniforms and vehicles to distinguish them from Minneapolis police. On July 21, 2020, the Minnesota state legislature passed major police reform legislation that banned chokeholds, established an independent commission to review police-related deaths, and required deescalation training for officers.

Minneapolis police union

Bob Kroll, head of the Minneapolis police officers union, was the subject of several protests. After offering support for the officers at Floyd's death 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 an email to Minneapolis rank-and-file police officers that became widely circulated. Kroll criticized Frey and Walz for not containing the riots and commending the work of responding officers, and he went on to characterize the protests as a "terrorist movement", a claim he also made about the Black Lives Matter movement in 2016. Frey and other officials were quick to condemn Kroll's email statement. Among them, Council President Lisa Bender described Kroll as "a barrier to change" of the Minneapolis police force. Several labor union leaders called for Kroll's removal, with one saying he perpetuated "a culture of violence" against the black community. On June 10, 2020, Police Chief Medaria Arradondo announced the police department would withdrawing from union contract negotiations as a first step towards police reforms.

"Defund the police" movement

Floyd's death and the resulting unrest advanced the "defund the police" movement in Minneapolis. At a Powderhorn Park rally organized by black-led social justice organizations on June 7, 2020, nine of the 13 members of the Minneapolis city council vowed to dismantle the city's police department, despite opposition from Frey. The pledge did not actually disband the police force and details about the next steps in the process were not defined by the council members 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. The city council voted unanimously on June 26, 2020, to revise the city's charter to permit dismantling of the police department, a step towards possibly replacing the police department with a civilian-led Department of Community Safety and Violence Prevention, and with goal of putting the issue before voters on the ballot in November. The council's move drew opposition from some black leaders and activists who felt that the council was "pandering", in the words of a local pastor. Others felt that the council had not adequately included voices from the black community in the process and expressed the need to address public safety concerns as black residents were disproportionately victims of crime and witnesses of crime in the city, just as they were disproportionately victims of excessive police force. At the Little Earth community, residents organized nightly safety patrols, 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.

Economic impact

Property damage

Ruins of the El Nuevo Rodeo club in Minneapolis, May 31, 2020

The riots worsened economic conditions for people and business in Minneapolis and Saint Paul. An analysis of property damage caused by the riots determined that through June 19, nearly 1,500 businesses in the Twin Cities were damaged by vandalism, fire, or looting, with some reduced to rubble and dozens 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.

While Minneapolis was hit harder by the riots, Saint Paul also suffered damage to 246 buildings, including 20 damaged by fire. Most of the damage was largely concentrated along the city's University Avenue corridor that features many small businesses owned by people of color. The damage accelerated plans for redevelopment of some sites near city's Allianz Field soccer stadium, but residents and business owners worried that outside investors would displace more local businesses that were disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and the unrest after the death of Floyd.

Beyond the city boundaries of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, damage from rioting was reported in the suburbs as far north as Blaine and as far south as Apple Valley. Clusters of damaged storefronts also appeared in the Twin Cities' suburbs of Richfield, North Saint Paul, Maplewood, Brooklyn Center, and Roseville. Estimates of property damage in the region were upwards of $500 million, making the unrest in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul area the second most destructive in United States history, after the 1992 Los Angeles riots. During the riots, 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.

Rebuilding and recovery

Ruins of a factory destroyed by May 27 riots in Minneapolis, June 13, 2020

Soon after the riots subsided, officials vowed to mitigate the losses and help the affected businesses rebuild, and created new financing initiatives to accelerate repair and recovery efforts. Many small business owners found they had to pay for repairs and rebuilding out of their own pockets as insurance payments fell well short of amounts needed. Grant and loan programs to help stimulate small business rebuilding did not receive backing from the state legislature. At least one Minneapolis business that suffered heavy damage to its factory from the fires, 7-Sigma, said they would leave the city for good after losing trust in public officials during the riots. Some large businesses announced plans to rebuild. Among them, the Target Corporation made a commitment to rebuild the store on East Lake Street that had been heavily damaged. The developer of 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.

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 Trump would have needed declare a “major disaster” for the state of Minnesota. The federal government denied the Minnesota's request for a disaster declaration and financial assistance on July 10, 2020, leaving the state with the difficulty of addressing the financial impacts from property damage amidst a state budget crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Public health impact

COVID-19 pandemic

Protesters wearing protective masks in Minneapolis, May 26, 2020

Civic unrest after Floyd's death 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. 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. In early June, 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. By June 18, 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”.

Racism as an emergency

The Minneapolis City Council and Hennepin County passed resolutions declaring racism a public health emergency. The city's resolution said that racism leads to discrimination in several areas of life, including that Black people are three times more likely to be killed by police, resulting in inequitable health outcomes for people of color for a variety of conditions and diseases.

Social impact

Crime

Rising crime following the unrest created debate about the role of the police and safety of residents. Gun violence rates increased in Minneapolis and Saint Paul in the weeks following the rioting. Incidents where residents reported shots fired and the number of people shot were several times higher than for a similar period the prior year and for five-year averages. Law enforcement officials blamed increased gang activity and emboldend youth to hide their identity as some of the reasons. In north Minneapolis, some residents of the city felt the police force had a noticeably less visible presence in the community and others felt reluctant to report criminal activity out of stigma or retribution. Over 80 percent of gun violence victims in Minneapolis in 2020 were black residents. Rising rates of gun violence and debates about public safety in Minneapolis were said to be reminiscent of the "Murderapolis" moniker the city had garnered in the mid 1990s.

Homelessness

The riots in late May also had impact on people experiencing homelessness and led to changes in city policies on homeless camps. Some who were displaced by the 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. The situation in the hotel, however, descended into chaos with extensive vandalism, rampant drug use, and violence. Residents at the hotel were later evicted, and some set up a sprawling camp at the city's Powderhorn Park that grew to 560 tents by mid July. 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.

See also

• History of Minneapolis
• Long, hot summer of 1967
• Police brutality in the United States

Further reading

Arrangement is chronological.

• A. Aizuramay, "A Mask and A Target Cart: Minneapolis Riots", The New Inquiry, 30 May 2020.
• L. Diavolo, "The Minneapolis Rebellion So Far, According to the People Living It", Teen Vogue, 1 June 2020.
• N. Robinson, "In their own words: the protesters at the heart of America's uprising", The Guardian, 6 June 2020.
• Anonymous, The World Is Ours: The Minneapolis Uprising In Five Acts, Its Going Down, 12 June 2020.
• L. Mogelson, The Heart of the Uprising in Minneapolis, The New Yorker, 15 June 2020.

External links

• Hennepin History Museum: Reading the Minneapolis Uprising
• Star Tribune: Video aftermath of rioting, looting (10 June 2020)