Columbia Heights, MN – On March 5th, 2016 a Justice 4 Michael Kirvelay action was called “Police Station take 2” in Columbia Heights, a northeast suburb of Minneapolis, Minnesota, to protest of the killing of Michael Kirvelay by police during a mental health check on November 25th, 2015.

Unicorn Riot was there to document this event LIVE.

The family and supporters demanded that the police “release the tapes of the shooting, prosecute the police for murdering Michael, prosecute the police for abusing Michael’s family, and no grand juries.”

About 40 people gathered and approached the Columbia Heights police station where they rallied and speakers stated the demands. The family then asked everyone to join them inside the police station as they planned to fill out a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request to release police officer Erik Johnston’s body cam footage of the shooting.

When the crowd tried to enter the police station, they were met with locked doors and no one at the front desk. In place of any police officers, the police had set up a series of cameras facing out of the front windows.

Met with a locked PD and a GoPro recording the protesters.#Justice4Michael pic.twitter.com/G5ofhohgiU

— Different Somali™ (@AfrixaAF) March 5, 2016

The family and supporters left the locked entry way of the police station and rallied again exchanging comments of solidarity. As the rally ended we were able to interview the family’s spokesperson and Michael’s brother Bill Kirvelay.

We spoke about the family’s demands and their relationship to other families in the Twin Cities area who’d lost loved ones. He said that they were working together for justice.

Here’s the interview:

Here’s the full recorded stream of the event:

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