Minnesota officials blame ‘white supremacists’, ‘foreign actors’ for race riots

Walz’s false claims were exposed within hours on Saturday after a local news outlet took the trouble to review the public jail records.

Minnesota public safety commissioner is blaming these riots on “White supremacists”pic.twitter.com/zTTB9ln3DJ

— Benny (@bennyjohnson) May 30, 2020

FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul reported that the overwhelming majority of people arrested in connection with the Minneapolis unrest have Minnesota addresses. Reporters did a search of the online Hennepin County Jail log to uncover the fake news.

“Of the 45 people arrested for rioting, unlawful assembly, stolen property, burglary or robbery on May 29 and May 30 so far, 38 had Minnesota addresses, according to publicly available jail records reviewed by FOX 9.”

Only six had out-of-state address, and one person had no address information listed, the newscasters said. In visuals from the riots, there were countless scenes of “black power” salutes.

The Minneapolis 3rd Police Precinct was set on fire on Thursday night. pic.twitter.com/J6vjZKoCeQ

— Carlos Gonzalez (@CarlosGphoto) May 29, 2020

The scene the Minneapolis 3rd Police Precinct on Thursday evening. pic.twitter.com/pE1WoRshV1

— Carlos Gonzalez (@CarlosGphoto) May 28, 2020

Despite the claim being false, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey echoed Governor Walz’s curious statement: “We are now confronting white supremacists, members of organized crime, out of state instigators, and possibly even foreign actors to destroy and destabilize our city and our region.”

Those are some of the blackest “white supremacists” I’ve ever seen https://t.co/7JuRqKfoue

— Jesse Lee Peterson (@JLPtalk) May 30, 2020

City and state officials had repeatedly claimed that the majority of rioters were from out of state. Even President Trump, who reportedly does not want to hurt his campaign’s “chances at coalition building with minority communities ahead of the election,” repeated the fake news.

80% of the RIOTERS in Minneapolis last night were from OUT OF STATE. They are harming businesses (especially African American small businesses), homes, and the community of good, hardworking Minneapolis residents who want peace, equality, and to provide for their families.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 30, 2020

It is not clear how Walz had arrived at these numbers anyway because on Thursday, no rioter was confirmed to have been arrested on the first three days of rioting. In fact, even on Saturday, Walz said he did not want any of the rioters “arrested,” he just wants them to “go home”.

“We cannot arrest people when we are trying to hold ground because of the sheer size, the dynamics, and wanton violence,” Walz admitted.

Shops put up signs announcing they were a “black owned business” in a bid to prevent BLM/Antifa rioters from destroying them.

Signs hoping to save some of these businesses pic.twitter.com/3lU9JqpglN

— Ricardo Lopez (@rljourno) May 28, 2020