US justice department announced it is investigating protesters in Minnesota who disrupted church services
US justice department announced it is investigating protesters in Minnesota who disrupted church services
Kristi Noem first denied that federal agents were using chemical agents against protesters, then after being shown video footage turned to blaming the protesters themselves, as tensions continued to run high amid the Trump administration’s surge of federal officers into Minneapolis.
The head of homeland security, who has acted as spearhead for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operation in the city – known as “Operation Metro Surge” – told the CBS show Face the Nation on Sunday that her department had not used pepper spray against crowds.
A federal judge on Friday had ordered that federal law enforcement stop using pepper spraying against peaceful protesters, whom Noem has accused of attempting to hinder the immigration crackdown. Kate Menendez found federal agents had used “chemical irritants” to punish protesters for exercising “protected first amendment rights to assemble and to observe and protest ICE operations”.
Noem first denied the judge’s finding, but after being shown a video of chemical agents being used on four occasions, she backtracked and said her department “only use those chemical agents when there’s violence happening and perpetuating and you need to be able to establish law in order to keep people safe”.
Tensions continue to run high in Minneapolis, with the Pentagon ordering around 1,500 active-duty soldiers stationed in Alaska to prepare for a possible deployment, which Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey has described as a “ridiculous” overreaction to largely peaceful protests against the violent behaviour of ICE agents.
