Left-wing #DumpTrump protests had been organized in honor of Trump’s visit, along with an independently-organized anti-capitalist bloc, ‘America Is Canceled‘.

After Trump was finished speaking inside the Target Center, a box of Trump hats and rally flags ended up in the protest on 6th St. and 1st Ave. and was set alight in the middle of the street. Protesters on the ground reported that the items were leftover unsold merchandise from inside the rally that had been thrown by Trump supporters at anti-Trump demonstrators.

Minneapolis Police officers used a fire extinguisher to snuff out the fire and immediately utilized mounted police while shouting “Move back!” to force the crowd to retreat from the scene.

#BREAKING Minneapolis police on horses trampling into crowd

We are #Livehttps://t.co/XgZT6vTicK

— Unicorn Riot (@UR_Ninja) October 11, 2019

At least three people were reportedly trampled by the horses during the two back-and-forth sweeps by MPD. One person can be seen on video coming up from beneath a horse. Horses have been known to cause heavy bodily injuries to non-riders at protests.

Police on horseback trampled anti-#Trump protesters outside the @TargetCenterMN in downtown #Minneapolis

October 10, 2019

More on today’s protests: https://t.co/HoLblfgAf2 pic.twitter.com/OMY48lHTdR

— Unicorn Riot (@UR_Ninja) October 11, 2019

Though some were surprised to see horses being utilized by the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) in this way, the Minneapolis Mounted Police Unit has been around for 23 years.

Mounted police charge protesters outside #TrumpRallyMinneapolis

At 0:48 a @MinneapolisPD officer can be seen wielding his riding crop as a weapon against an anti-#Trump protestershttps://t.co/HoLblfgAf2 pic.twitter.com/brDyTlef5U

— Unicorn Riot (@UR_Ninja) October 11, 2019

Mounted police are regularly used as crowd control in downtown streets during bar-close time, where police also routinely use pepper spray. Other protests, such as a 2012 OccupyMN march, festivals, and large events in the downtown area of Minneapolis are patrolled by police on horses.

After the mounted unit trampled protesters, some protesters began screaming at police about what they had forced their horses into doing, and lobbed a few water bottles at the officers. Police officers with bicycles then made generous use of pepper spray on the crowd of protesters nearest them.

Video: @MinneapolisPD on horses and bikes tangle with protesters outside Trump rally at downtown Target Center. A cop lost control of his horse and got separated for a bit.

Police are currently allowing traffic to drive directly though protester. Live: https://t.co/HoLblfgAf2 pic.twitter.com/rxHMuvIQ1D

— Unicorn Riot (@UR_Ninja) October 11, 2019

An MPD officer clearly targeted a Unicorn Riot (UR) videographer with multiple blasts of pepper spray. Another UR videographer also received a dousing of the chemical irritant.

This was happening around the same time MPD union boss, Lieutenant Bob Kroll, was inside the rally wearing his notorious “Cops For Trump” shirt as he spoke about the “oppression of police” by a city government which simply wants its police officers not to wear city-issued police uniforms while publicly endorsing political candidates.

Footage from our journalist who was pepper-sprayed earlier at the #DumpTrump anti-#Trump protests in Minneapolishttps://t.co/HoLblfgAf2

Support independent media: https://t.co/BLzqRnMPbn pic.twitter.com/7mPGsFUxrK

— Unicorn Riot (@UR_Ninja) October 11, 2019

After the spraying of chemical deterrents at press and at protesters, one of our reporters was told by an MPD officer the police had been targeting protesters nearest them because of the actions of protesters farther back, out of reach of the chemical spray. Though this is not an uncommon common police tactic, it is uncommon for a police officer to admit it.

The actions of the MPD greatly agitated the protesters, who didn’t back down from the lines of police using bicycles to swerve into people. Animal-lovers watching the goings-on via social media voiced concern for the horses who had been roped into the escalated situation.

Many thousands of protesters occupied the intersection of N 7th Street and N 1st Ave, the intersection of the Target Center and well-known Minneapolis music venue First Avenue.

All the way down N 1st Ave. thousands of people took space in the festive atmosphere which also occupied the intersection farther at N 6th Street.

One protester described her protest sign to us, which had a photo taped to the top of her 15-year-old self protesting 54 years ago in 1965.

“Women’s rights, reproductive rights, the environment, immigration… stop the war. Same bullshit, same thing. Here I am, I’m 69 years old now and I’m still protesting. I regret that our country has this under-layer that comes up … there’s always been a strand of racism.” — #DumpTrump protester, October 10

Still a pretty large protest crowd outside the Target Center here in Minneapolis as Trump and supporters are expected to exit the venue soon:https://t.co/HoLblfgAf2 pic.twitter.com/7k83OeGjng

— Unicorn Riot (@UR_Ninja) October 11, 2019

Whistles sounded shrilly for hours during the demo, in honor of the whistleblower who recently sounded the alarm on Trump’s dealings with Ukraine and set in motion impeachment proceedings against the 45th POTUS.

We interviewed a Vietnam War vet who called Trump a “habitual law-breaker at this point” and stressed the importance of the role of the United States Congress in the health of the United States government, saying “Trump is treating Congress like crap.”

A few hours before the Minneapolis Police used horses and pepper spray on the crowd of #DumpTrump protesters, a group sang the ‘whistleblower song’ a street away from where Trump was to hold his rally.

Watch last night’s live stream: https://t.co/HoLblfgAf2 pic.twitter.com/yoAnLRPUWg

— Unicorn Riot (@UR_Ninja) October 12, 2019

Many Trump supporters who were trying to enter the Target Center via 1st Ave. had to walk a gauntlet of counter-protesters in front of the venue and walk many blocks north and west to the get to the protected entrance.

As the Trump rally was letting out, attendees who had parked in the lot kitty-corner from the Target Center were being directed by MPD to exit the lot via 6th Street, still occupied by crowds of protesters. There was a mounted police barricade between 6th Street and Hennepin, and a police presence also on 6th Street and 1st Ave. MPD directed cars exiting the lot through the crowds of protesters.

“He’s got a gun!” — Voices from the crowd yelled as a man pointed gun at protesters

A Trump supporter riding as a passenger in one of the vehicles brandished a firearm at protesters as the car was making its way towards Hennepin Avenue through the crowd of people. Protesters can be heard on video beforehand pleading with the driver of the vehicle to consider the safety of the protesters on the streets and the kids in the car.

Protesters exiting from parking lot at Gluek’s were directed by @MinneapolisPD to drive onto N 6th St *thru #DumpTrump crowd* (there is another exit onto N 1st Ave)

Trump protester brandishes weapon at protesters. See our stream 3hr48min https://t.co/dyiZGa3ISz

— Unicorn Riot (@UR_Ninja) October 11, 2019

The next day a woman named Jessie Bellcourt was observed on Facebook boasting that protesters “almost died yesterday“, and how MPD didn’t care that her passenger Curtis Madson had used his firearm to threaten anti-Trump demonstrators.

On October 8, Mayor Jacob Frey had stressed that the MPD “is a neutral entity that is charged with ensuring the public safety of every single resident in the city of Minneapolis.” After the Trump rally, Frey said

“Those who were tasked with keeping our residents and visitors safe last night did so with excellence.” — Mayor Jacob Frey, October 11

MPD Chief Arradondo praised his officers for using “appropriate levels of force“, adding that they had “utilized de-escalation skills to defuse tensions by exiting crowds.”

Many sorts of people were out in the streets the evening of October 10 as rain drizzled on and off through the night. Leftists of every stripe were present, as well as self-identified non-Trump supporters who came out anyways, some out of concern for the safety of their fellow Minnesotans, others for the opportunity to troll their fellow residents.

Perhaps a dozen men were there wearing Oathkeepers symbols on their clothing, and at least one III% (The Three Percenters) had answered the call to come to protect Trump supporters. Many of the Trump rally-goers were from out-of-town, some of them having driven in from rural Minnesota and others from far-away coastal states.

Several people we interviewed live said they were out protesting Trump because of his betrayal of the Kurdish people this past week, with his deal allowing the Turkish Army to proceed into Northern Syria.

Inside the rally, Trump disparaged his political opponents in Minnesota like Representative Ilhan Omar and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and attacked Minnesota’s Somali population, which is already facing massive amounts of Islamophobia as well as consistent anti-Black racism and hate crimes.

We interviewed a pair of young adult siblings who had just been escorted out of the Trump rally for having a homemade sign reading “Breed Love” on the bottom, their family surname. Tawny Breedlove said that the event had been somewhat traumatizing, moving her to tears during their armed escort out of the rally.

The siblings were told by security that their sign “was not a Trump-approved sign” to which one of the siblings asked after, “What is wrong with something that says ‘breed love’? Like, you want it to say ‘breed hate’? I’m not understanding.“

As Trump fostered hate on the inside, the night outside featured a few fights, small skirmishes, and lots of mocking from people on opposing political viewpoints. Several red MAGA hats were taken from Trump supporters and a Reuters journalist’s eye was bloodied by a Trump supporter who punched him in the face.

At least three people were injured after being trampled by the horses and one was issued a citation for disorderly conduct.

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