‘There are anarchists’: Minnesota officials say ‘outside agitators’ are far left, anarchists, not far-right groups

No amount of deception or deflection will change the unalterable fact that this is all the left.

A security expert says intelligence reports indicate most of the hard-core protesters in Minneapolis are far-left or anarchists, and that far-right groups have not yet made a significant appearance.https://t.co/pkJAKjkYYj

— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) May 30, 2020

The official narrative being rewritten by Democrats is that it can’t be antifa & extreme leftists behind the violence. Or BLM. Instead, it is blamed on phantom “white nationalists.” If they believed this, they wouldn’t be supporting jail funds for the people arrested. pic.twitter.com/opfKuS8mDs

— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) May 31, 2020

ANTIFA and other radical left anarchist groups are organizing coordinated riots today in Oakland, CA (see video); Philadelphia (City Hall); Albany, NY; Madison, WI; Houston and Austin, TX; Indianapolis; New Orleans; Durham, NC; Salt Lake City; #Antifa #BLM pic.twitter.com/RIC7c4ilCg

— Adam Milstein (@AdamMilstein) May 30, 2020

MINNEAPOLIS — Drifting out of the shadows in small groups, dressed in black, carrying shields and wearing knee pads, they head toward the front lines of the protest. Helmets and gas masks protect and obscure their faces, and they carry bottles of milk to counteract tear gas and pepper spray.

Most of them appear to be white. They carry no signs and don’t want to speak to reporters. Trailed by designated “medics” with red crosses taped to their clothes, these groups head straight for the front lines of the conflict.

Night after night in this ravaged city, these small groups do battle with police and the National Guard, kicking away tear gas canisters and throwing back foam-rubber projects fired at them. Around them, fires break out. Windows are smashed. Parked cars destroyed. USA TODAY reporters have witnessed the groups on multiple nights, in multiple locations. Sometimes they threaten those journalists who photograph them destroying property.

The mayor and governor say outside agitators are hijacking peaceful protests over the death of George Floyd and literally fanning the flames of destruction. And experts say things will likely get worse in Minneapolis and in other cities seeing similar peaceful protests that turn violent like Los Angeles; Louisville, Kentucky; Des Moines, Iowa; Detroit, Atlanta; and Washington, D.C.

“The real hard-core guys, this is their job: They’re involved in this struggle,” said Adam Leggat, a former British Army counterterrorism officer who now works as a security consultant specializing in crowd management for the Densus Group. “They need protests on the street to give them cover to move in.”

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said protests in the city Tuesday were largely peaceful and organized by local residents, but that the “dynamic has changed over the last several days.”

“I want to be very, very clear: The people that are doing this are not Minneapolis residents,” Frey said Saturday.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, without providing specifics, said he believes 80% of the people now taking part in the overnight rioting are from outside Minnesota.

“There are detractors. There are white supremacists. There are anarchists,”  Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan said Saturday afternoon.

However, a civil arrest list provided by the public information officer of the St. Paul Police Department shows 12 of the 18 people arrested from Thursday through 6 a.m. Saturday were from Minnesota. Five of them are from St. Paul, three are from Woodbury (part of the Twin Cities metropolitan area), two are from Minneapolis, one is from Mankato and one is from St. Louis Park. Four are from out of state and two did not have cities of residence listed.

The mayor later acknowledged the majority of arrests so far have been of Minnesota residents.

Leggat, the security consultant, said intelligence reports from his colleagues indicate most of the hard-core protesters in Minneapolis are far-left or anarchists, and that far-right groups have not yet made a significant appearance. He said looting is typically done by locals – usually people with no criminal record who just get caught up in the moment.

But direct conflicts with authorities come from a mix of both locals and outside groups who see these conflicts as a core part of their mission. Many of the anarchists, he said, target banks, chain-type businesses and even luxury cars as symbols of corrupt institutions. He said even a peaceful protest can turn violent if outside agitators decide to participate, hijacking the message.

“The difficulty is that you have no control over who turns up,” he said. “If this was to continue to go on, more people will come. And potentially you could have people on the right turning up, which would make things far more complicated. If those guys turn up, they will claim to be there to protect business. But it means the police will have two groups to keep apart. And that uses up a lot of police resources.”

Many protesters interviewed by USA TODAY reporters decried the violence, although some said it was a predicable result of generations of anger and suffering. Speaking to a large crowd on Friday afternoon, Minneapolis activist Kon Johnson, 45, said people who have subjugated for so long are finally lashing out. He said the violence has at least gotten the world’s attention.

“What is it going to take to get people to listen?” Johnson said. “They say, ‘don’t incite violence,’ but no one is listening. What does it take to get them to listen? I mean, do we have to take this to the suburbs? To the capital? What’s it going to take to get them to listen? We can’t keep burning stuff down.”

Johnson, an activist and performer, said the arrest of Derek Chauvin, the police officer seen kneeling on Floyd’s neck for eight minutes, is a good first step. Chauvin was charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter. But he said it’s only the first step toward delivering justice to the community.

“I don’t want to burn down sh–  either. I don’t,” Johnson said. “But guess what? It’s gonna happen if this fool does not get life in jail.”

8 minutes, 46 seconds and ‘inherently dangerous’:What’s in the criminal complaint in the George Floyd case

Pamela Oliver, a sociology expert from the University of Wisconsin-Madison specializing in protests, said politicians sometimes blame outsiders for causing trouble as a way of pretending there’s no real problem within a community. That’s not what’s happening here, she said: Political leaders acknowledge Floyd’s death focused sharp attention on longstanding problems.

Instead, she said, many Minneapolis residents may see rioting and destruction as a legitimate way to push back on police repression.

“When the police aggressively punish peaceful protest by firing rubber bullets and tear gas, the protesters often escalate their tactics. In contexts in which the police or other authorities have been acting in repressive ways towards communities, there can be a celebratory air when rebellion occurs in what is called a riot,” she said. “I have definitely read claims by Minneapolis residents that the police have been so bad that a rebellious response is appropriate.”

But many Minneapolis residents appear to be growing weary of the violence and destruction, while still supporting peaceful protests. Clearing rubble from a burned-out Walgreens on Saturday, Daniel Braun, 34, said he was sad to see the damage to his neighborhood.

“There’s civil rights and then there’s burning things down,” said Braun, an attorney. “During the day, everything is peaceful. It’s only at night when things happen. Once night falls, please, go home. When it’s dark out and you’re there, you’re not making anything better.”

Insanely brave.

This security guard took the stolen Seattle PD’s AR-15 away from this ANTIFA member who was threatening the safety of others around.

They then called and waited for the cops to show up and handed the rifle back over to the cops.pic.twitter.com/zeKRK6rAz9

— Students For Trump (@TrumpStudents) May 31, 2020

A protester who has been outside some of the most intense scenes this week – the Minnehaha Mall on the south side on Thursday and Uptown on Friday – said his experiences with riots and protests leads him to believe most violence demonstrators are not from Minneapolis or St. Paul.

Arsonists and people breaking into buildings are “definitely” not from the neighborhoods they are damaging, Augustine Zion Livingstone said.

“Ain’t no black person burning down no damn barbershops in their hood,” Livingstone, 23, said. “We’re not doing that.”

Some locals are participating in looting once buildings have been breached, but he said they’re in the minority when compared with peaceful protesters.

“We’re not destroying buildings, we’re not burning buildings,” said Livingston, who also was a main speaker during Friday’s marches and protests at the Hennepin County Government Center.