MINNEAPOLIS

Mayor Hodges calls for end to Black Lives Matter encampment outside 4th Precinct

By ERIN GOLDEN AND LIBOR JANY , STAR TRIBUNE STAFF WRITERS
December 01, 2015 - 5:21 AM

Calling a two-week protest outside a north Minneapolis police station unlawful and “unsafe for everyone,” Mayor Betsy Hodges on Monday implored protesters to end their occupation at the Fourth Precinct.

Flanked by city officials and several longtime North Side community leaders, the mayor reiterated her support for erasing racial disparities in the city. But she said the demonstrations sparked by the shooting death of Jamar Clark by a police officer have become a hazard for neighborhood residents, police and protesters that should be stopped. Hodges described the scene as one with protesters’ warming fires polluting the air, makeshift barricades blocking ambulances and snowplows, and outside agitators committing violence with guns.

“There have been near-daily threats to burn the precinct, kill our officers and to hurt people, causing harm and fear that must end,” she said.

But with snow falling and more on the way, protesters said they did not intend to leave.

Leaders of Black Lives Matter, the Minneapolis NAACP and other supporters spoke out at their own afternoon news conference, rejecting the mayor’s call to leave and reiterating their own demands. Some called for hiring more minority officers, assigning a special prosecutor to investigate the apparent racially motivated shooting of five protesters last week and eliminating low-level ordinances that disproportionately affect black residents.

Video: Felony charges filed in Fourth Precinct shootings
Video: Officials call for occupation at 4th Precinct to end
“We will not let politics or politicians drive a wedge between us,” said Kandace Montgomery of Black Lives Matter. “We will not allow white supremacists to terrorize us.”

She also called for a “direct prosecution” in the Clark shooting, saying “grand juries are places where a case like this goes to die.”

Neighborhood concerns

Protesters have continued to call for authorities to release video of Clark’s Nov. 15 shooting, which took place near the Fourth Precinct. At the mayor’s news conference, a handful of speakers noted that officials have complied with protesters’ other demands, including the release of the names of the officers involved in the shooting and the launch of a federal investigation.

U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison said he initially supported the protests, and backs demonstrators’ calls for justice for Clark. More recently, however, he’s become concerned about the broader impact on the neighborhood. He said his office has received calls from people worried about older residents who live nearby in public housing and people who depend on city buses that can’t get through because protesters have blocked Plymouth Avenue N.

“I believe the people protesting, their purpose and their intent is to raise the issue of police brutality, police accountability,” he said. “But the unintended effect 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.”

Others who urged protesters to end their occupation at the station included the two City Council members who represent north Minneapolis, the heads of the Minneapolis Urban League and Minneapolis Public Housing Authority, and Trahern Pollard, founder of a group called Push for Peace.

Pollard said he has visited the site and is disappointed in how the protest has evolved. “You can’t tell me that it’s justice for Jamar by spray-painting the police station,” he said. “You can’t tell me that barricading Plymouth Avenue and denying access for our elders to get on the bus or get a little fresh air is justice for Jamar.”

Alliances questioned

On Plymouth Avenue N., however, protesters said those views didn’t match up with their own.

Pastor Jamie Ali, founder of God of All Truth Church, said protesters plan to boycott black leaders who aligned themselves with Minneapolis officials in asking for an end to the protest. Minneapolis NAACP President Nekima Levy-Pounds questioned the work of local leaders who have touted their participation in the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

Several speakers characterized the mayor’s announcement as an attempt to divide the protesters.

“It really is frustrating to have the mayor of Minneapolis stand with so-called black leadership,” Levy-Pounds said.

She also called on the Justice Department to enter into a consent decree, as has been done with police departments in nine other cities, including New Orleans, Detroit, Seattle and Albuquerque, N.M. Under such an agreement, an independent monitor would be installed to oversee departmentwide reforms.

Hodges declined to say if she intended to send police in to forcefully remove protesters who she said are “not exercising their First Amendment rights lawfully.”

When asked why the city hadn’t intervened in unlawful activities, the mayor said the situation requires a delicate balancing act.

“We had to weigh the current situation, the risk factors that we know are there, against the unknown and what might happen,” she said. “We have been working day and night and I have been working day and night to find a peaceful way to end the occupation while still allowing for people to protest.”

Staff writer Paul Walsh contributed to this report.

http://m.startribune.com/charging-deadline-nears-for-suspects-in-shooting-of-black-lives-matter-protesters/358855091/

Ms Mayor Hodges,

When we elect officials we expect, no matter who they are to do there job.
Ms Hodges please do yours.
And take your city back.
You never should of waited until this day( 60th anniversary of bus boycott).. That is either your own foolishness or this was strategically planned by people far more powerful than you. * And I don't mean the BLM *

Just round em' up & move em' out.
- Rawhide http://youtu.be/2KPplYp7K7M/

Send someone from an employment agency out there carrying a stack of job applications...protesters will scatter in all directions.....

They used bulldozers and every other form of disbandment on the occupy movement....

just sayin

not getting any warmer,and Dysentery is never very far with this sort of Crap!

More lawsuits

well its the 1st of the month so I'm sure they will break camp for a few days so they can cash their checks, get some food in the house, with those food stamps. get some rest in that section 8 housing. then be back tot the encampment about the 5th,

Since it is clear these people do not actually work.


Ahh.. America. land of the free..stuff

Just round em' up & move em' out.
- Rawhide http://youtu.be/2KPplYp7K7M/

Police tear down protest camp at Minneapolis' 4th Precinct

http://bigstory.ap.org/4f2b182972974b64a26b098db9ea2ff9/01:36


Police tear down protest camp at Minneapolis' 4th Precinct
DEC. 3, 2015 8:02 AM EST


Sister of Minn. Shooting Victim Calls for Peace
AP

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Officers in riot gear broke down an encampment early Thursday outside a Minneapolis police precinct where protesters have been demonstrating for nearly two weeks over the fatal shooting of a black man by police.

Officers told about 50 demonstrators outside the Fourth Precinct to disperse about 4 a.m. and began tearing down tents about 15 minutes later. City dump trucks carried away tents and supplies. Demonstrators headed by the local Black Lives Matter group have gathered at the site since the Nov. 16 death of 24-year-old Jamar Clark following a confrontation with police a day earlier.

Police spokesman Scott Seroka said there were a few arrests, but provided no details.

The Star Tribune (http://strib.mn/1Nr816o ) reported police presented an eviction notice to protesters that said the department remains steadfast to its commitment to help facilitate demonstrations outside the Fourth Precinct. "It is a city building within city grounds and people have the right to peacefully demonstrate or protest," the notice said. But it said that neither structures nor fires will be allowed on city property and that access to the police station must remain open.

Several precinct neighbors upset about noise, vandalism and blocked streets voiced their concerns at a City Council safety committee meeting Wednesday. Patricia Anderson said her daughter's car window has been smashed, bricks have been taken from a wall on her property and she's having trouble sleeping. She said she wants the protesters to leave.

Police say they were responding to an assault call on Nov. 15 in which Clark was a suspect and arrived to find Clark interfering with paramedics who were trying to treat the victim. Police say a scuffle followed and Clark was shot. Some community members have alleged Clark was handcuffed when he was shot, but police dispute this. State and federal investigations are underway.

.00 buckshot, has an amasing effect, when it comes to crowd dispersal.

Cops should unload a few thousand rounds.
::

They refused to leave. So tear gas was used & there were 8 arrests.

Stop their paychecks, welfare checks, government aid, etc. They should pay a squatters fee

make that buckshot rocksalt and I agree completely

does wonders to the Barrel too!

Do like New Orleans does, send in street sweepers spraying water. When the temp drops they'll move.

Nah.
Broken glass marbles.