Congresswoman Maxine Waters made a sudden appearance in Brooklyn Center, the hotspot of week-long protests over the killing of Daunte Wright, 20, all but encouraging the crowd to defy an emergency curfew imposed by the city.
Hundreds of protesters rallied outside Brooklyn Center, Minnesota police station for the seventh day in a row on Saturday, when US Representative Maxine Waters (D-CA) showed up around 10:30pm to address the crowd with a brief and emotional speech.
With less than 30 minutes before yet another emergency curfew was due to come into effect, journalists at the scene asked Maxine about the restrictions.
“I don't think anything about curfew, I don't know what curfew means,” she said. “Curfew means that: ‘I want you all to stop talking, I want you to stop meeting, I want you to stop gathering.’ I don't agree with that.”
In addition to the Daunte Wright protests, law enforcement in Minnesota is bracing for a verdict in the murder trial of Derek Chauvin, the former police officer accused of killing George Floyd last year in nearby Minneapolis. Maxine also shared her view on what protesters should do if Chauvin is acquitted next week.
We've got to stay on the streets. And we've got to get more active. We've got to get more confrontational. We've got to make sure that they know that we mean business.
However, when asked if she personally was going to stay on the streets as the curfew was looming, Waters said: “I'm not gonna stay out here.
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As the curfew came into effect at 11pm, “fewer than 150 protesters remain[ed] on site,” Minnesota’s public safety information center, dubbed Operation Safety Net, said, thanking everyone who left ahead of the curfew, wishing them a “pleasant evening.”
On Friday night alone, some 100 people were arrested for not following a dispersal order.
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