Read on Twitter
NEWS:
There is a crowd of thousands of protesters peacefully sitting on the 35W bridge over the Mississippi River. They are peaceful and respectful, and have asked the governor and the mayor to join them.
And they just got hit by a semi.
There is a crowd of thousands of protesters peacefully sitting on the 35W bridge over the Mississippi River. They are peaceful and respectful, and have asked the governor and the mayor to join them.
And they just got hit by a semi.
I'm talking with someone at the scene and all I have right now is that they were sitting peacefully, waiting for the Mayor to arrive, and someone came up from behind and rammed into demonstrator(s). I'm waiting to hear more.
Here's some video of the aftermath: https://twitter.com/mollywidstrom/status/1267227418407796737
Police immediately raced in and, it appears, instead of going after the motherfucker who RAN INTO THE CROWD WITH A SEMI, they started pepper-spraying protesters from their cars to get them to disperse.
Police immediately raced in and, it appears, instead of going after the motherfucker who RAN INTO THE CROWD WITH A SEMI, they started pepper-spraying protesters from their cars to get them to disperse.
More video from a different angle. https://twitter.com/mcguirereports/status/1267227142548586503
Some important context: 1. the crowd was mostly seated, which made this even more dangerous, 2. that road was closed at 5PM, so it's unclear how that semi even GOT there. He would've had to have been let through the barricade somehow.
Additionally, it appears that around the same time, another truck hit a protester on 6th and University in NE, not far from the the Bridge. Unclear if it's any kind of coordinated attack, but that timing is hella suspect.
I need to walk away from Twitter for a bit, but before I do:
I was literally in the middle of composing the opening tweet here to spread word about protester demands when my best friend who is there texted that a semi ran into the crowd.
I was literally in the middle of composing the opening tweet here to spread word about protester demands when my best friend who is there texted that a semi ran into the crowd.
My friend was with a few of our other friends, and I was supposed to be there but was having a high anxiety day so couldn't go. One of the friends with them is partially blind. They were at the front of the crowd.
They are all walking home now. The Mayor was on his way to address the protest when this happened.
Cops immediately jumped in and pepper sprayed protesters who were nowhere near the truck. They pepper sprayed people running for safety.
Cops immediately jumped in and pepper sprayed protesters who were nowhere near the truck. They pepper sprayed people running for safety.
My friends are now all accounted for and safe.
The rest of you who aren't here can fuck all the way off.
The rest of you who aren't here can fuck all the way off.
