Amazon Blocked, Wells Fargo Windows Smashed on Day of Action for Palestine in Minnesota
Maple Grove, MN — Pro-Palestine activists blockaded an Amazon distribution center in the northwestern Minneapolis suburb of Maple Grove as part of A15 Action, a global day of action against Israel’s war on Gaza. In a separate action in the Twin Cities, a Wells Fargo Bank branch in South Minneapolis was vandalized and had its windows broken.
Starting at 7 a.m. on April 15, dozens of activists blocked all distribution from the Maple Grove Amazon facility for more than two hours, delaying an estimated 100-plus shipping trucks.
Four different elements made up the blockade and protest with all four deploying simultaneously.
- Car Caravan and Dabkeh Rally: Numerous cars drove into the facility and blocked all Amazon sprinter shipping trucks from leaving the facility for two hours. More than 100 vehicles were delayed as they generally send a fleet out every ~20 minutes. Participants left their cars parked in the driveway and had a rally with singing and the traditional Palestinian dance Dabkeh.
- Picket: Reinforcing the car-caravan blockade was a small picket of protesters marching and chanting.
- Technical Blockade: A blockade was erected in the semi-truck exit driveway of the Amazon facility where numerous trucks were stalled outside in the roadway unable to enter the facility for just over an hour.
- Public Rally: A public rally was held on the corner with art and banners for people who wished to participate in less risky roles.
At least 33,729 Palestinians have been reported killed by Israel with anywhere from 8,000 to 13,000 missing in the Gaza Strip since October 2023. The U.S.-backed Israeli war on Gaza has been widely called a genocide on the Palestinian people and has come in response to a Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7. Read Unicorn Riot’s latest with media from Gaza, Ongoing War Crimes: Israel Targets Journalists, Aid Workers, Civilians in Gaza.
Pro-Palestine protests have swept the globe over the past six months and reinvigorated the BDS Movement (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions). A15 Action was a day of global economic blockades aimed to impact the profits of Israeli partners and draw awareness to the plight of the Palestinian people.
Related: Pro-Palestine Activists Attempt to Block Workers from Entering Arms Manufacturer in Charlotte
Actions on A15 occurred in major cities internationally, see our coverage from Charlotte and Philadelphia. Banks, weapons manufacturers, and corporations like Amazon were the main targets of protest and blockade for either their direct or indirect support of Israel.
An Amazon worker who participated in the Minnesota action at the distribution center said they were taking a “stand against Amazon for its financial and technological support of Israel.”
“I work at an Amazon facility and most of my coworkers support Palestine. I came to this action to take a stand against Amazon for its financial and technological support of Israel. We have to keep fighting these giant companies that are exploiting our communities and fueling the war machine. Amazon may think that its invincible but we know that when people organize and fight we are stronger than any corporation.”
Anonymous Amazon worker who took part in A15 Action
Amazon, one of the world’s largest corporations, has for decades provided Israel with technology, artificial intelligence and investments into weapons. Israel’s colonization and settlement of Palestine in the late 1940s turned the country into an apartheid state with Israeli military controlling the movement of Palestinians using checkpoints equipped with high levels of technology and artificial intelligence, used to surveil Palestinians.
The workers of Amazon have consistently been vocal about the corporation’s support of Israeli social control. Aside the $7.2B direct infrastructure investment from Amazon Web Service Years for Tel Aviv, Amazon’s investments in Israel Aerospace Industries has strongly increased Israel’s air fleet and assisted in generating AI-based military robots and drones used by Israel to target and kill Palestinian journalists, aid workers, scientists, teachers, doctors, and mothers, children and grandmothers.
Separately, in a statement posted on Abolition Media, rebels with the ‘Anti-Colonial Action Brigade’ claimed responsibility for spray painting political messages in support of Palestine and against police and breaking several windows of a Wells Fargo Bank on East Franklin Ave. in Minneapolis.
Part of their statement reads as follows:
“In response to the A15 call for economic disruption, Anti-Colonial Action Brigade (ACAB) attacked a Wells Fargo branch in so-called ‘minneapolis’ (occupied Dakota lands) early morning Monday April 15.
Wells Fargo funds the genocide & colonization of Palestine through a $500 million loan to Elbit Systems, the zionist entity’s top drone manufacturer. In addition, a Wells Fargo executive sits on the board of the Atlanta Police Foundation, the parasites behind Cop City. We act in total solidarity with the movements resisting the carceral-colonial pig power structure in its various manifestations—whether a cop city in the Weelaunee Forest, or a euro-settler regime in Palestine.”
Statement via Abolition Media – ‘minneapolis’: Wells Fargo Branch Attacked for A15 Disruption, in Solidarity with the Palestinian Resistance and StopCopCity
Full Quote from Amazon worker in video above [Vimeo / YouTube] who wished to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal: “Today is April 15th, which is an International Day of Action that was called to do an economic blockade in support of Palestinian liberation. People from around the Twin Cities area came together to blockade this facility and to stop work. We were able to completely stop work here for two hours this morning. No trucks were able to come in and out, which meant that the warehouse had to come to a standstill. This was a place of community and joy and hope for Palestinian liberation.
Last year, Amazon committed $7.2 billion to Israel. That money is going to technology that is being used to surveil and target specific Palestinians. It’s facial recognition technology like cloud storage that the IDF uses. It’s, the Israeli state relies on technology that Amazon is actively selling to them. As an Amazon worker, I think it’s important to speak up against the actions that the company is taking. Not only are they aiding Israel’s apartheid and genocidal regime, they are also mistreating workers. They are surveilling workers here. Workers at Amazon are overwhelmingly poor immigrant people of color, and they are targeted by Amazon because Amazon knows that they will take jobs that underpay them and overwork them.
We are standing here in the heart of the Empire. We’re here because we are complicit. Places that we work for, things that we support with our everyday lives are actively supporting apartheid and genocide in Palestine. It’s important to me as an Amazon worker, to make my voice heard and say, I do not support what this company is doing. And I am in support of Palestinian liberation. We have to stand up and say, this is not okay.”
For more from Palestine and pro-Palestine protests click on link below.
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