Minnesotans who are tired of living under Governor Tim Walz’s shutdown orders have planned a fourth protest, set to take place in front of the executive mansion, Thursday.
By the time Walz’s current shutdown orders designed to quell the spread of COVID-19 expire, barring the chance of another extension, Minnesota will have been shut down and kept at home for over 60 days. Protestors have already amassed outside the Governor’s Mansion twice and rallied in front of the State Capitol once in opposition of this policy, but their desire to demonstrate hasn’t been satiated yet.
“We must act now. We must stand up. There is power in numbers,” say the organizers of the upcoming protest, via a Facebook event page.
“We have had tremendous participation in several protests over the last few weeks but we can’t stop,” the page reads. “If we don’t push back, this order will go on for months,” organizers claim.
The page then goes on to list 13 things that opponents of the shutdowns believe will come to pass if protest does not continue:
It is unclear whether or not attendees of Thursday’s protest will display arms— a choice that anti-shutdown protestors have made nationwide to make a visual statement in defence of liberty. Some attendees to previous protests in Minnesota have open carried in recent weeks.
The upcoming protest is called “Reopen Minnesota.” A similarly named protest, “Liberate Minnesota” which occurred in April enjoyed the apparent support of President Donald Trump who tweeted the name of the rally the morning it was set to occur.
Not everybody supports the actions of Walz’s vocal opponents, however. Alpha News provided the live coverage of the last protest outside the Capitol on May 3. Shortly after the protest ended, an Alpha News reporter observed about a dozen members of a self-described “workers defense group” that had congregated a short distance away from the main demonstration. One member of this group said they had congregated to protect a nearby hospital in case the conservative protestors, which the man characterized as “fascist,” decided to attack it. At least one member of this group was visibly armed with a handgun.
A meteorologist with KARE11 News, Sven Sundgaard, was also fired recently, after posting a vitriolic rant against anti-shut down protestors.
Alpha News plans to send a reporter to the upcoming Thursday protest to provide on the ground coverage of events.
Kyle Hooten
Kyle Hooten is Managing Editor of Alpha News. His coverage of Minneapolis has been featured on television shows like Tucker Carlson Tonight and in print media outlets like the Wall Street Journal.
