Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges requested Monday that Black Lives Matter demonstrators end their 24-7 vigil outside a police precinct station, saying the group was becoming threatening and disruptive.
“There are near-daily threats to burn the precinct, kill our officers and hurt people, and it must end,” the mayor said at a press conference Monday with several black community leaders.
The officials also said the protesters’ barricades have been blocking access for emergency vehicles, snowplows and public transportation in one of Minneapolis’s more-vulnerable neighborhoods since police fatally shot Jamar Clark on Nov. 15.
“I believe the people protesting, their purpose and their intent is to raise the issue of police brutality,” said U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, a Democrat who represents the area. “But the unintended affect is that North Siders can’t use their main thoroughfare, Plymouth Avenue. The unintended effect is domestic terrorists are coming to the protest to start trouble.”
The mayor and the other officials stressed that they were not issuing a demand with a deadline, but making an appeal to the demonstrators out of fundamental sympathy with their cause.
But, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, the city’s chapter of Black Lives Matter promptly dismissed the request.
“If Mayor Hodges is so concerned about safety, she should join us and call for the appointment of special prosecutor to investigate Jamar Clark’s murder to avoid using a broken grand jury system,” spokeswoman Miski Noor said on Facebook. “Instead, she’s using her political capital to attack peaceful protesters braving white supremacist attacks and freezing temperatures to demand justice for Jamar Clark.”
Minneapolis NAACP President Nekima Levy-Pounds also rejected the request, calling it “frustrating” to have Ms. Hodges back “so-called black leadership” in calling for an end to the barricades.
• Victor Morton can be reached at vmorton@washingtontimes.com.
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