We continue to fight the charges against Amina McCaskill and the I-94 646+!
Anti-War Committee statement: We continue to fight the charges against Amina McCaskill and the I-94 646+!
Hennepin County needs to drop the charges on Amina McCaskill and the I-94 646+. In light of the events at the U.S. Capitol on January 6th of this year, the mass arrest in Minneapolis on November 4 is a glaring example of the double standard police and city officials operate on when it comes to the rights of protesters. Since the nationwide uprising began last summer after the murder of George Floyd, we’ve seen locally and across the country how police crack down on Black Lives Matter sympathizers simply for being at a protest. Thousands have been arrested, beaten, tear gassed, shot with rubber bullets, spied on, and threatened by the police for supporting police accountability. But when armed men who publicly stated their intention to murder members of Congress and overturn the election showed up at the U.S. Capitol, the response was almost non-existent.
Right-wing extremists have shown up to many progressive protests here in the Twin Cities to threaten and harass us. Only three days after the mass arrest on November 4th, right-wingers gathered outside Governor Walz’s mansion in Saint Paul to protest the “stolen” 2020 election, openly carrying assault rifles, drinking in public and refusing to wear face coverings. Were these reactionaries mass arrested? Of course not. Saint Paul police were there to ensure that these anti-democratic protestors were protected in case of a counter-protest.
The mass arrest of the 646+ was carried out because Walz wanted to “teach the protesters a lesson.” We in the Anti-War Committee want to make it clear that we have been paying attention. When Black Lives Matter activists are portrayed as dangerous for carrying laser pointers, but armed insurgents with a history of violence are coddled and downplayed, what you have is a justice system that is rotten to its core.
We have a right to protest, to address our grievances to a government which has failed miserably to protect its people from a deadly pandemic, which has directed violence at protestors outraged by the murder of George Floyd rather than charging the officers responsible, and which continues to prioritize the suppression of dissent and the maintenance of the status quo over the wellbeing of the people it’s supposed to serve. Protesters blocking a highway for 15 minutes did not create unsafe conditions; police surrounding and antagonizing those protesters did. The MPD has time and time again proven itself to be the true “public nuisance” in the city of Minneapolis.
We in the Anti-War Committee are committed to fighting these public nuisance charges, as well as the more serious felony charges leveled at Amina McCaskill, until all charges are dropped. We will not allow the police to threaten and coerce BIPOC into accepting injustice by criminalizing the act of protest. The real safety threat in this country is unchecked police terror. We ask our supporters to join us in the fight against these charges, and in the fight against all attacks on progressive movements, by participating in a call-in to the office of Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman to demand that all charges, including the charges against Amina McCaskill, be dropped immediately. We ask that all who are able attend a court rally at 11:30 a.m. on Friday, February 5, 2021 at the Hennepin County Government Center, in solidarity with Amina as she attends her first court hearing.
Contact: Hennepin County Mike Freeman
612-348-5550
citizeninfo@hennepin.us
Background: Almost three months ago, on November 4th, 2020, more than 646 protesters representing a broad coalition of progressive movements, including Black Lives Matter, environmental justice, immigrant rights, anti-war (including the AWC) and pro-labor groups, marched through the streets of Minneapolis, demanding that the results of the 2020 election be upheld and that Trump accept his defeat. We also called for the new Biden administration to make a turn towards a genuinely progressive people’s agenda: for an end to US imperial projects, for action against police violence and for community control over police, and for the protection of the rights of immigrants and refugees.
Protestors marched down Cedar Avenue and then briefly onto a stretch of the I-94, where we were met by an overwhelming and outsized police presence. As the protest attempted to exit the highway, police in riot gear and armed National Guard troops forced protesters back onto the interstate, boxing them in and holding them for six hours, during which traffic was shut down in both directions. No dispersal order was given, and almost all present were arrested and charged with being a “public nuisance.” One protester, a young Black woman named Amina McCaskill, was singled out and now faces felony charges for having a laser pointer, which the city claims is a “weapon” they say she used against police officers armed with assault rifles.