Left-wing groups celebrate anniversary of Third Precinct arson, Twitter allows it

One group wished its followers a happy "People's Independence Day" and published a poster of the precinct on fire.

The Minneapolis Police Department's Third Precinct the morning after it was torched by rioters. (Fibonacci Blue/Flickr)

On May 28, the one-year anniversary of Minneapolis’s Third Precinct burning to the ground, several left-wing advocacy groups celebrated the arson, and Twitter allowed it.

Twin Cities Encampment Responders, a group that joined Twitter in August 2020, posted a graphic depicting the precinct on fire, with a caption of “Happy People’s Independence Day to those who celebrate.”

“Power and justice in the hands of the people,” reads the poster the leftist group tweeted.

Several organizations retweeted the “People’s Independence Day” poster, including a progressive group called Women for Political Change, which describes itself as a “multiracial organization holistically investing in the leadership and political power of young women and trans and non-binary folks in Minnesota.”

It appears that the poster was physically printed and posted around Minneapolis as well, according to one Twitter user, who said that it “looks like Minneapolis is celebrating.”

An account called Can’t Cage the Rage also praised the arson by posting a video of the precinct fire and writing, “Happy holiday everyone.”

A self-described “decentralized anarchist collective” called CrimethInc. Ex-Workers’ Collective proclaimed that the “George Floyd uprising” proved the people’s “power to abolish the police and make a new world.”

“We remember this moment — exactly one year ago tonight. May we never forget,” CrimethInc. tweeted, along with a photo of the fire from last May, which it called a “beautiful and romantic moment” at the time.

Twin Cities Encampment Responders was seemingly formed in response to the police removal of homeless encampments in Minneapolis. In March, the group protested the removal of a homeless encampment from the Near North neighborhood in Minneapolis, demanding “no use of police … to displace people ever.”

In May, the group praised people who threw rocks at police cars, which created an “extremely hostile” situation, according to a crime account on Twitter.

Twitter banned former President Donald Trump from its platform in January because of his alleged “incitement of violence” after the U.S. Capitol was stormed by protesters on Jan. 6.

The two tweets that caused Twitter to ban Trump read:

“The 75,000,000 great American Patriots who voted for me, AMERICA FIRST, and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, will have a GIANT VOICE long into the future. They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!”

“To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th.”

In a statement, Twitter said these tweets must be read “in the context of broader events” and that Trump’s words violated Twitter’s “Glorification of Violence” policy.

Despite Twitter’s stance on violence at the Capitol, it appears that no action has been taken on the accounts glorifying arson and celebrating violence in the last week.

 

Rose Williams

Rose Williams is an assistant editor for Alpha News.