Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey condemned the protesters who took to the streets of their state, saying they were no longer doing so in honor of George Floyd.
Protesters took to the streets on Friday night, in defiance of Frey’s curfew, for the fourth consecutive night in response to Floyd’s death.
While Walz and Frey both expressed outrage over Floyd’s death, they both made their opposition known regarding the most recent night of protests during a press conference Saturday morning, even though Frey said the protesters’ anger was “understandable” and “right” a day earlier.
“This is no longer about verbal expression. This is about violence, and we need to make sure that it stops. We’re in the middle of a pandemic right now. We have two crises that are sandwiched on top of one another. In order to make sure that we continue to have the necessary community institutions, we need to make sure that our businesses are protected, that they are safe and that they are secure,” Frey said at a news conference, according to CNN.
Walz similarly said that the protests made a “mockery of pretending this is about George Floyd’s death or inequities or historical traumas to our communities of color.”
“Because our communities of color and our indigenous communities were out front fighting hand in hand to save businesses that took decades to build. Infrastructure and nonprofits that have served a struggling community were torn down and burned by people with no regard for what went into that,” he added.
The Minnesota Republican Party chairwoman called for both of their resignations early Saturday morning.
