A video that has gone viral shows officers in Minneapolis, Minnesota shooting green paint at people who were standing on a porch. The video, which you can watch later in this article, has been viewed more than 1.3 million times.
However, Minneapolis police spokesman John Elder told Heavy in a statement that the officers in the video are not members of the Minneapolis Police Department. Heavy asked which agency they are with and is waiting for a response. “Those are not our officers so I will be unable to comment,” he wrote.
Watch the video here, but be forewarned that the language is graphic.
Share widely: National guard and MPD sweeping our residential street. Shooting paint canisters at us on our own front porch. Yelling “light em up” #JusticeForGeorgeFloyd #JusticeForGeorge #BlackLivesMatter
The video starts with the voices of people on a porch watching as authorities in riot gear walk down the street. “Look at this. They just keep coming,” a woman says.
“Get inside. Go inside. Get inside. Get in your house now, let’s go,” the officers shout. Then one says, “Light ‘em up.”
One of the officers shoots what appears to be green paint at the people on the porch (technically, they’re called tracer rounds.)
“God that hurt. Right on the f*cking crotch,” a woman says in the video. A tank is seen rolling down the streets.
Tanya Kerssen posted the video on Twitter. She wrote, “Share widely: National guard and MPD sweeping our residential street. Shooting paint canisters at us on our own front porch. Yelling “light em up” #JusticeForGeorgeFloyd #JusticeForGeorge #BlackLivesMatter.”
There is a curfew in the City of Minneapolis from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. on May 30-31. “During the hours of curfew, all persons must not travel on any public street or in any public place,” according to the proclamation.
Here’s what you need to know:
There Have Been Other Intense Videos on a Night of Unrest Throughout the United States
Also in today’s criminal justice news, National Guard and Minneapolis PD officers illegally demand taxpayers stop filming from their porch and go inside – you’ll hear “Light ’em up!” as they then shoot at these people *WHO ARE ON THEIR OWN PORCH*
A series of other intense videos also emerged from cities throughout the country as George Floyd protests and riots escalated into violence in some areas. For example, in Chicago there was an all-out street brawl between police officers and protesters, according to this video. In Atlanta, a video caught a bicycle officer shoving a bike at a woman. Protesters threw an American flag in a river outside Trump Tower in Chicago. In Oakland, a federal protection officer was shot and killed. In New York City, videos captured two NYPD squad cars running over protesters. In Salt Lake City, a man with a bow and arrow was taken down by protesters. In Dallas, a man covering the unrest wrote that a man was “stoned” with rocks by “looters.” Police in Minneapolis also shot a photographer with WCCO-TV with a rubber bullet.
The latest Minneapolis incident was part of a series of protests and riots that escalated throughout the United States in the wake of the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota. A viral video showed a police officer, Derek Chauvin, with his knee on Floyd’s neck. Floyd died, Chauvin and three other officers were fired, and Chauvin was charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter charges. Businesses were torched and looted in Minneapolis, and the protests and riots then spread throughout the country in many major cities, with some peaceful and some not.
Minneapolis police have been posting about a series of other incidents throughout the city on the night of May 30.
“Anyone who would set fire to a person’s livelihood and business… They do not love this city. And I would certainly not call them a Minneapolitan. We will do everything we can to PROTECT our city and our businesses,” Chief Medaria Arradondo said in a statement.
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