State and Local Police Make Mass Arrest Again at Fourth Graduate Noise Demo

Minneapolis, MN — A mixture of state and local police arrested at least a dozen protesters shortly after 10 p.m. Thursday just outside of the Graduate Hotel on Washington Avenue South East.

In a heavy handed show of force, state troopers alongside the University of Minnesota Police Department and the Minneapolis Police Department, responded to a prescheduled noise demonstration at the Graduate Hotel on the UMN campus by immediately kettling protesters and arresting the ones who were not quick enough to vacate the Washington Avenue South East corridor between Harvard Street South East and Walnut Street South East.

This was the fourth noise demonstration held at the Graduate Hotel since the beginning of January, and the police response was remarkably quicker than the previous one on Jan. 28.

The demonstration began at 8 p.m. and quickly pulled a large crowd of more than 100 protesters, banging pots and bells to protest the hotel’s accommodation of federal immigration forces.

As protesters made noise, the entire corner of South East Beacon Street and South East Union Street was used by multiple police agencies to begin staging their response. Hours before they would break up the protest, more than 20 vehicles were parked on the streets, including three unmarked vans, an MPD Special Weapons and Tactics bearcat, and more than 10 Hennepin County Sheriff’s Department vehicles.

Similar to the previous noise demonstration, the hotel was surrounded in to layers of short metal fencing and all of the lower-level windows on the eastern side of hotel were boarded up. Sheriff’s deputies, MPD and UMPD officers would regularly switch out in shifts as they silently watched the protesters from the hotel’s courtyard.

Happening Now: 20+ law enforcement vehicles, including a Minneapolis Police SWAT Bearcat, are staged on SE Beacon St as a noise demo has started at the Graduate Hotel. This is the 4th noise demo at the Graduate and one of multiple noise demos tonight outside hotels housing ICE agents in Minneapolis.

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— Unicorn Riot (@unicornriot.bsky.social) February 5, 2026 at 8:39 PM

Before 10 p.m., which is when police broke up previous noise demonstrations at the hotel, at least one bus packed full of state troopers pulled up behind the Washington Avenue parking ramp on South East Union Street. A dozen state troopers exited the bus and entered the parking ramp building, which connects with the Public Safety Building and the Graduate Hotel by skyway.

Shortly after 10 p.m., MPD officers marched in a single-file line from the back door of the hotel, crossing the street to the southern sidewalk facing the protesters, as the officers from the courtyard began forming a line across the front of the hotel and state troopers began approaching in a line from the south.

A UMPD officer in a department Jeep told the crowd they had five minutes to leave the area, heading east down Washington Avenue South East, over a Long Range Acoustic Device mounted to the front of the vehicle. Many protesters ran from the area, while others were slower to leave.

A line of MPD officers marched east down the northern side of the sidewalk to the intersection of South East Oak Street, where they suddenly ran down and tackled a protester on the corner of the street. Officers in the back formed a line along the street, and the protesters left in this new section of Washington Avenue between South East Oak Street and Walnut Street South East were arrested.

MPD Officers at the corner first demanded press move back to the sidewalk on the opposite side of the road, then gave up and only asked that they give them five feet of space. A moment later, the wall of MPD officers pushed the press gaggle back to the sidewalk, where they remained until the last protesters were loaded onto a bus.

Another dispersal order was given closer to 11 p.m. from the new location to a crowd which at this point was mostly press. The UMPD officer in the Jeep parked it roughly 10 feet from the sidewalk, with the front-mounted LRAD facing the crowd, when he gave the order, after any remaining protesters moved a block east to continue yelling at officers.

At one point, several state troopers broke the line to chase down protesters who remained in the street chanting and banging pots. One of the troopers dropped all of his equipment to pick up speed, but they still failed to catch the protesters, who disappeared down Ontario Street South East.

By 11 p.m., the bus left the area, followed by a trickle of law enforcement vehicles as they began leaving the area. At least 12 people were arrested and booked into Hennepin County Jail. Most were charged with disorderly conduct, public nuisance and unlawful assembly and released.

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