Thread by @MichaelAdams317

Tensions rose slightly on Lake Street at 17th Street as protestors were surrounded on both sides.

Police had weapons trained on a group of us. We held up our press passes. One kept his rifle on us while the others continued to fire foam baton rounds.

Police just raided the gas station we were sheltering at. After shouting press multiple times and raising my press card in the air, I was thrown to the ground. Then another cop came up and peppered sprayed me in the face while I was being held down.

1/ Apologies it’s taken me so long to update this thread. A lot to process and more to report on, but I wanted to share this photo: this is Assad, Cindy, their children and people from the Powderhorn/Phillips community who have stayed with this family to help them protect

2/ their gas station, which has already been looted twice. These are the people who we were with and police attacked without provocation. They were standing on their property, defending what little was left, when marked SUVs and MetroTransit vans pulled up, officers jumped out,

3/ and immediately started shooting foam baton rounds and flash bangs. The officers then proceeded to walk around the gas station lot and pepper spray those on the ground.

4/ This family started the night thinking they’d need to defend their store from those looking to destroy it, and ended up retreating inside to hide from armed cops firing projectiles at will. I want to thank them for giving journalists safe haven from tonight’s storms.

DP @vergaracam was rolling when Minneapolis police and state troopers stormed the gas station we were spending time. Here’s the incident above from a different angle:

Our full @VICENews report from the #GeorgeFloydProtests in #Minneapolis, where police and state troopers stormed a local business and fired tear gas and baton rounds at the owners who were trying to protect it from further destruction: