Only one arrest for property damage and one citation was made outside President Donald Trump’s rally in downtown Minneapolis Thursday, even though left-wing thugs were caught on tape assaulting Trump supporters. Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo confirmed on Friday that members of the antifa mob also threw bottles of urine at the police and assaulted their horses.
Said Arradondo: “some protesters threw bottles, rocks and containers of liquid believed to be urine at police officers, and some struck officers’ horses with sticks.”
He also confirmed that officers used chemical irritants on some demonstrators, and “used appropriate levels of force … while responding to, at times, violent and aggressive individuals causing harm to others in attendance.”
Yet none of the “violent and aggressive individuals causing harm to others in attendance” were arrested. Why is that?
Video footage has spread far and wide on social media showing rampaging thugs assaulting Trump supporters in scenes reminiscent of the movie “The Purge.” In many cases the perpetrators’ faces weren’t even covered.
After the @realDonaldTrump rally in Minneapolis, his supporters were attacked by left-wing extremists. An unprovoked assault on a woman was caught on camera by @AlphaNewsMN. Mayor @Jacob_Frey defends charging Trump campaign $530k for public safety. #antifa https://t.co/fGBzUiMMOQ pic.twitter.com/MgbsDh60NR
— Andy Ngô 🏳️🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) October 14, 2019
Antifa extremists encircle a female Trump supporter trying to leave the area after the Minneapolis Trump rally last Thursday. Someone throws something at her but it misses and lands on the ground. The woman is then robbed of her hat by a masked person. pic.twitter.com/Z5o9dItGUo
— Andy Ngô 🏳️🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) October 15, 2019
.@AlphaNewsMN captures moment when a man in a "I Stand with Ilhan Omar" shirt chokes a man who tried to retrieve his stolen MAGA hat. Other antifa people then kick & punch him. He was trying to leave the area after the Trump rally in Minneapolis last week. https://t.co/iEugKxiMoA pic.twitter.com/XDMfVBrZam
— Andy Ngô 🏳️🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) October 16, 2019
A man in a blue jacket seemed to be leaving the Trump rally by himself when he was spotted by a protester who yelled: “There’s a Nazi over here!” A group of protesters then attacked the man, slapping and pushing him. He finally ran away. pic.twitter.com/jzYaWgca9g
— Jenna Johnson (@wpjenna) October 11, 2019
Man wearing a “Trump 2020” hat is assaulted by a mob outside the Mineapolis Trump rally last night. Video journalist @ElijahSchaffer says this was happening routinely. If you wore a Trump hat or patriotic clothing, you were targeted. #antifa pic.twitter.com/aPJnSJMXz1
— Andy Ngô 🏳️🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) October 11, 2019
As American Greatness reported on Friday, a Minnesota state rep. who was part of the antifa mob outside of the Target Center, actually boasted on Twitter that she was able to talk left-wing Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey into having the police stand down, leaving the Trump supporters more vulnerable. Frey has denied issuing a stand down order, which puts him at odds with his fellow Democrat Gomez.
But the fact remains that multiple unprovoked assaults on innocent Trump supporters were allowed to go unpunished.
“Officers worked to ensure people’s First Amendment right to assemble, speak freely and protest,” Arradondo said in Friday’s statement. “MPD appreciates the community support demonstrated by the law-abiding attendees and their partnership to create a peaceful expression of passionate views.”
But the left-wing mob that gathered outside the Trump rally were not “protesters” peacefully assembling to express “passionate views.” They were there for only one reason—to intimidate and terrorize Trump supporters. Why else would they be staked outside of the convention center doors waiting for the Trump supporters to come out?
A reporter for the Minnesota-based news site Alpha News was at the protest and witnessed the violence first-hand.
The reporter, Willis Krumholz, says Trump supporters who were hurt during the rally “should seek legal counsel and file a suit against Frey on the basis of a civil rights violation (42 USC 1983).”
Democrats so far have refused to answer any questions about the violent protest. This is especially important, given that one of their own—DFL state rep Aisha Gomez—was among the leftwing mob.
Specifically questions that have not been answered are:
“Do you disavow the protesters who threw urine at cops, and hit and spit on Trump supporters?”
“Do you disavow the use of rhetoric like ‘kill a cop, save a life,’ and ‘blue lives don’t matter’?”
“Do you disavow political violence?”
“Do you disavow Mayor Frey for not allowing the Minneapolis Police to defend themselves?”
“Do you disavow state rep. Aisha Gomez for associating herself with the most violent group of protesters?”
A similar debacle happened four years ago in downtown Minneapolis when well-heeled Republican donors attending a Trump fundraiser were assaulted, robbed and spat upon by a violent leftist mob as they were leaving the event.
Attendees said that even though there was a strong law enforcement presence at the convention center where the fundraiser was held, they were not afforded any police protection going into and leaving the event. Because it seemed obvious that the left-wing agitators weren’t in any fear of being arrested, one of the Trump supporters said, “it was almost like they were in cahoots.”
Indeed, there were no arrests at that time either and the Minneapolis Police Department insisted that there was no stand-down order.
Scenes of bloody, antifa-fueled violence marred Trump rallies with appalling regularity throughout 2016, although the media tried to blame the violence on Trump’s rhetoric.
As the 2020 election season approaches, it is crucial that left-wing officials in Democrat-run cities are held accountable for their refusal to protect Republicans exercising the right to support their president in public. Because unless there are consequences for this dereliction of duty, violence against Trump supporters in Democrat-run cities will not only continue, it will get worse.