Counter protesters chase off conservative influencer Jake Lang during Minneapolis immigration crackdown
Context Corner Reporter
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A small protest organized by conservative influencer Jake Lang in downtown Minneapolis on Saturday was met by a larger liberal counterprotest, ending in a scuffle between the two groups.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A small protest organized by conservative influencer Jake Lang in downtown Minneapolis on Saturday was met by a larger liberal counterprotest, ending in a scuffle between the two groups.
Pardoned January 6 rioter Lang threatened to burn the Koran during his anti-Islam, anti-Somali, pro-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) demonstration, outside the City Hall. However, his efforts were thwarted; only a small number of people showed up to support his demonstration, while hundreds of counterprotesters converged on the site, yelling over his attempts to speak and chasing the pro-ICE group away, according to the Associated Press.
The counterprotest outnumbered the original gathering, and the two groups engaged in scuffles and traded taunts for several hours, according to reports.
Lang appeared to be injured as he left the scene, with bruises and scrapes on his head.
Image from X account of Jake Lang
The protest was a continuation of the escalation in tension in Minneapolis over the past two weeks. Since the shooting of Renee Good, 37, by an immigration agent on Jan. 7, Minneapolis has been engulfed by tension as ICE agents descended on the Twin Cities, arresting people for immigration violations, interrogating U.S. citizens and deploying tear gas and pepper balls in residential neighbourhoods.
Lang had previously been charged with assaulting an officer with a baseball bat, civil disorder and other crimes, before receiving clemency as part of President Donald Trump’s clemency for Jan. 6 defendants last year.
It was reported that Lang appeared to be injured, leaving the scene, with bruises and scrapes on his head.
In Minneapolis, snowballs and water balloons were also thrown before an armored police van and heavily equipped city police arrived. “We’re out here to show Nazis and ICE and DHS and MAGA you are not welcome in Minneapolis,” protester Luke Rimington said. “Stay out of our city, stay out of our state. Go home,” said the AP.
There have been protests every day since the Department of Homeland Security ramped up immigration enforcement in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, deploying more than 2,000 federal officers.
Lang was previously charged with assaulting an officer with a baseball bat, civil disorder and other crimes before receiving clemency as part of President Donald Trump’s sweeping act of clemency for Jan. 6 defendants last year. Lang recently announced that he is running for U.S. Senate in Florida.
In Minneapolis, snowballs and water balloons were also thrown before an armored police van and heavily equipped city police arrived.
“We’re out here to show Nazis and ICE and DHS and MAGA you are not welcome in Minneapolis,” protester Luke Rimington said. “Stay out of our city, stay out of our state. Go home.”
National Guard ‘staged and ready’
The state guard said in a statement that it had been “mobilized” by Democratic Gov. Tim Walz to support the Minnesota State Patrol “to assist in providing traffic support to protect life, preserve property, and support the rights of all Minnesotans to assemble peacefully.”
Maj. Andrea Tsuchiya, a spokesperson for the guard, said it was “staged and ready” but not yet deployed.
On Friday, a federal judge ruled that immigration officers cannot detain or tear gas peaceful protesters who are not obstructing authorities, including while observing officers during the Minnesota crackdown.
Living in fear
During a news conference Saturday, a man who fled civil war in Liberia as a child said he has been afraid to leave his Minneapolis home since being released from an immigration detention center following his arrest last weekend.
Video of federal officers breaking down Garrison Gibson’s front door with a battering ram on Jan. 11 became another rallying point for protesters who oppose the crackdown.
Gibson, 38, was ordered to be deported, apparently because of a 2008 drug conviction that was later dismissed. He has remained in the country legally under what’s known as an order of supervision. After his recent arrest, a judge ruled that federal officials did not provide him with sufficient notice that his supervision status had been revoked.
Then Gibson was taken back into custody for several hours on Friday when he made a routine check-in with immigration officials. Gibson’s cousin, Abena Abraham, said Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials told her White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller ordered the second arrest.
The White House denied the account of the re-arrest and that Miller had nothing to do with it.
Gibson was flown to a Texas immigration detention facility but returned home following the judge’s ruling. “I don’t leave the house,” Gibson said at a news conference.
According to The New York Times, Mr Lang’s protest opposing fraud was directed at a wide-ranging investigation into Minnesota’s social services programs. Most of the people charged in the scheme so far have been of Somali origin. A preliminary assessment suggests that billions of taxpayer funds spent on programs intended to help low-income people since 2018 were most likely stolen, federal prosecutors said.