Large Noise Demo Against ICE Crashed by Police Who Arrest 30
Minneapolis, MN — Over a thousand protesters visited two hotels in downtown Minneapolis on Friday night, equipped with loud noise makers, in an attempt to disrupt the sleep of any ICE officers who may be staying in the hotels. More than four hours into the roving noise demo, a large intra-agency state police response led to a reported 30 arrests of people who refused to leave after dispersal orders were given.
The noise demo came two days after ICE agent Jonathan Ross fatally shot Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old white American who was participating in a rapid response network, driving her car and following federal immigration operations and attempting to warn community members.
While this was not the first noise demo targeting ICE agents, this was the first public one to be held in Minneapolis and by far the largest. Activists used real and makeshift instruments to generate audio to almost ear-damaging decibels in some pockets of the crowd. People handed out earplugs and hand warmers to protesters.
Starting at the Canopy by Hilton and going to the Depot Renaissance Minneapolis Hotel and the Residence Inn by Marriott, protesters were equipped with full drum sets, pots, pans, whistles, speakers, fireworks, and other noise makers. They were flashing lights inside of windows and pounding on them at some hotels in attempts to be as disruptive as possible to ICE agents presumed to be inside.
Anti-ICE protesters are having a rolling noise demo and protest in downtown Minneapolis targeting hotels where federal agents are reportedly staying — the Canopy by Hilton and the Renaissance Minneapolis Hotel. Police have just arrived as we are posting this. pic.twitter.com/BK5nxs1BG3
— UNICORN RIOT (@UR_Ninja) January 10, 2026
Graffiti with slogans against ICE was sprayed onto the windows of a hotel called The Depot and the walls of nearby businesses. Corporate property faced some vandalism at various locations and at multiple points during the night. Several protesters streamed into the hotel before coming back out and tipping over multiple sculptures.
About three hours into the protest, hundreds of state riot police descended onto the streets, formed a skirmish line, and announced dispersal orders. Activists were seen trolling the Minnesota DNR Conservation Officers and MN State Troopers that formed the line with flags and even musical performances.
The Minnesota Department of Public Safety account on X noted that they sent the Minnesota State Patrol Mobile Response Team and officers from the MN Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to respond “after receiving information that demonstrations were no longer peaceful and reports of damage to property.” Minnesota State Patrol and Minneapolis Police officers also responded with large numbers and each brought their Lenco armored Bearcat vehicles.
A reported 30 people were arrested after they refused to leave the area following dispersal orders. A roving march continued through downtown after the police response until around 1 a.m. as snow came down.
State Agencies Use EOC in Blaine for Operations Management; Feds’ Aircraft Reported Headed to Anoka-Blaine Airfield in Recent Days
Statewide police coordination in Minnesota is managed via the State Emergency Operations Center. A new SEOC facility in suburban Blaine opened last August on Pheasant Ridge Avenue near I-35W and Lexington Avenue North. EOC facilities at the county level are used to manage policing in spaces like the Enbridge Line 3 project and major events like the Republican National Convention. Governor Tim Walz described the State Patrol teams as “Mobile Response Team” units. The Minnesota Reformer reported the SEOC was at “level two” activation, which is “Partial Activation to standup the required incident command system (ICS) sections.” (For more about incident command systems and protest management, see our 2024 report on the Milwaukee Republican National Convention.)
Helicopter assets were out over the protest on Friday. Aerial surveillance has been a longtime source of stress for Twin Cities residents, and many people have mentioned PTSD-style reactions to the return of heavy helicopter patrols, a signature feature of the state’s response to the 2020 uprising. Around the country, in cities like Columbus, police helicopters are often seen as a psychological instrument of the state, a pattern going back to the Vietnam War. (The CIA even mentions them in psychological operations reports – one program was called Operation Wandering Soul [pdf]).
2021: Exclusive: MN State Patrol Spy Plane Over Protest (Video)
Recently, there have been some instances of aircraft that are not broadcasting their locations in a way that shows up on websites like FlightAware and ADSB-Exchange. In 2021, UR reported how the FBI was flying an unmarked spy plane that could be detected during the lead-up to Derek Chauvin’s trial.
There is strong evidence that the Anoka County-Blaine Airport (ANE), aka Janes Field, has been used recently by federal agencies for their crackdown campaign in the Twin Cities. According to aviation spotter Airplane Ian, a DHS plane using the radio call sign TROY 186 communicated with Minneapolis Approach on January 8 that it was headed to the Blaine airport, but it was not running transponders, so it was not on the flight tracking sights. Ian also reported a DEA aircraft, FLINT 54, said the same thing and headed to that airport that afternoon.
They concluded, “It seems likely Anoka is being used as a hub for federal aviation resources.” Ian also reported TROY 186 was active over South Minneapolis during the afternoon of January 10. In addition, according to Ian, KONA 282, a fixed-wing FBI Cessna 206 Stationair, was around Minneapolis on the morning of January 9, using the same callsign that we reported in 2021.
The Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) has also been used for deportation flights, as we reported in December. On January 10, aviation spotter Nick Benson counted 127 and 47 deportees getting loaded on two flights. Benson also spotted a Coast Guard C-130 carrying more Homeland Security personnel into the Twin Cities from Louisiana. GlobalX, which was covered earlier, sent an Airbus A321 with tail number N570TA into MSP on January 8 around midday, according to the “JJ in DC” account that exhaustively tracks ‘ICE Air’ flights.
2025-2026 Unicorn Riot Coverage of the DHS / ICE Crackdown Campaign in Minnesota:
Click the image to see all UR coverage of federal law enforcement operations in MN.
Watch Unicorn Riot’s videos from ICE in Minneapolis in playlist below.
Follow us on X (aka Twitter), Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo, Instagram, Mastodon, Threads, BlueSky and Patreon.
Please consider a tax-deductible donation to help sustain our horizontally-organized, non-profit media organization:
