Protesters in south Minneapolis replaced an American flag with the Somali flag at a Holiday gas station over the weekend, pictures from a Sunday protest suggest.
The gas station was the site of an officer-involved shooting last week that resulted in the death of Somali man Dolal Idd, who seemingly fired a gun at police officers, according to video of the incident.
The sign outside the store was vandalized as well, proclaiming “Justice for Dolal Idd.” The phrases “ACAB,” which stands for “all cops are bastards,” and “F– 12” appeared under the first phrase.
The protest, which turned out hundreds of people, was organized by Minnesota’s chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. It’s unclear exactly when the Somali flag was raised, since protesters have been gathering at the site over the past several days.
A speaker at the protest proclaimed, “If you are sitting at home, you are allowing this to continue to happen. If you are not speaking out, you are allowing this to continue to happen.”
“We outnumber the government. We should not fear the government. The government should fear us,” the speaker continued.
She also declared that police, who “work for the government, kill us in the streets every day, and the government turns around and tells us to vote and rely on them to fix the issue when the issue is [themselves]. We cannot continue to rely on the government to fix our problems. We have to hit the streets and find out real solutions to fix our problems ourselves.”
A woman who was introduced as the executive director of Breaking the Barrier also spoke, saying, “We put these politicians in power. They should be answering to us. The same way we put them in power, we can take them out of power.”
Chants of “No justice! No peace!” and “Say his name! Dolal Idd!” can be heard throughout videos of the protest.
Rose Williams
Rose Williams is an assistant editor for Alpha News.
