Anti-ICE agitators clash with federal agents at Minneapolis hotel, as agents deploy tear gas, flashbangs
Multiple people were arrested in Minneapolis overnight after agitators arrived at a hotel and clashed with federal agents, who used tear gas and flashbangs in an attempt to disperse the group following the fatal shooting of an American citizen by Border Patrol agents over the weekend.
Border Patrol agents were seen pointing rifles at agitators and members of the press standing near the entrance to the hotel, where demonstrators believed Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were staying.
Many people could be seen on video blowing whistles and clacking bells as agitators at the front of the crowd attempted to force their way through the hotel’s front doors.
"Where is the local PD?" one agent asked the group of reporters.
Agents eventually pushed the crowd back and threatened to detain agitators and journalists, with video appearing to show one agent shoving a member of the press to the ground.
Some agitators used a shovel to remove the placard from the hotel and others threw snowballs as security worked to barricade the entrance to the building.
The group eventually stopped trying to reach the inside, but remained at the entrance as officers held the doors shut.
The Minnesota Department of Public Safety said arrests were made because the demonstration was "not peaceful."
"The Minnesota State Patrol and DNR were called to assist Minneapolis police with damage to hotel property at Home2 Suites Hotel on University Avenue," the agency wrote on X.
"While they collaboratively worked to encircle the group for arrests because the demonstration was not peaceful, federal agents arrived without communication and deployed chemical irritants, clearing the group. The State Patrol and DNR are no longer on scene," it added.
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The confrontation follows the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old American citizen, who was killed Saturday by Border Patrol agents while recording federal immigration operations in Minneapolis.
Pretti, an ICU nurse, appeared to be attempting to assist a woman agents had knocked down when he was sprayed with an irritant, pushed to the ground and beaten, according to video and witness accounts. An agent was later seen pulling Pretti’s lawfully owned firearm from his waistband before other agents fired several shots, killing him.
The shooting follows recent unrest over the ICE-involved killing of Renee Nicole Good in the same city earlier this month.