Minneapolis, 25 January 2026

… Federal officers arrived on scene - they cleared the front of the hotel and all only that was remaining was Press - authorities checked that we were all Media and we were allowed to remain with them- the group of protesters had scattered to the far side of the street heckling authorities - they were ordered to stay back and to stay across the street…

However, it only took two or three protesters to disobey orders and approach all of us at the front entrance of the hotel and everything quickly escalated…

As this happened - within seconds - more federal authorities arrived in an armored vehicle dropping copious amounts of tear gas everywhere in the street towards Press and protesters - authorities aggressively chased everyone away, including media.

I was nearly knocked over and my gas mask was ripped off. Many of us ran east on University only to suddenly be met with about 100 MPD officers on foot who suddenly appeared before us. I don’t believe anyone knew they were staging down the road around the block.

I darted off University north and was only able to get away because I ran with two other media members into a nearby secure parking ramp that required a key card of which they had.

I’m quite certain many arrests were just made, but none of us are allowed near back to the scene out front of the hotel.

Note, I do not have an issue with authorities ripping off my mask or pushing me – I’ve always believed that media members who cover these types of situations insert themselves in these volatile situations where authorities really have no clue who is who and where things escalate quickly. I can however say I’ve never encountered authorities this aggressive, and definitely not near anything of this level since the George Floyd riots.

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