Thread by @Telegraph

🚨 Minneapolis emerged as a test case for the defund the police movement.

@RozinaSabur investigates why the experiment has faltered

telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/03/2…

Visitors to the George Floyd memorial in Minneapolis must walk past concrete barricades and makeshift checkpoints to reach the site where the 46-year-old took his last breath with his face pressed to the asphalt

Signs marking the entrance to the birthplace of a global racial justice movement read: “You are now entering the free state of George Floyd” and “cops not welcome”

His death not only triggered a hot summer of protests but also calls to "defund" the police that have reverberated across the US and as far as the UK

The four-block intersection where Mr Floyd died - renamed George Floyd Square - is now a test case, with concrete barricades and a regular swarm of activists manning an "autonomous zone", effectively barring police from the area.

And it is not going well

Earlier this month a 30-year-old volunteer was shot dead, and cars with broken windows line the streets. Business owners say customers have fled and emergency services refuse to come in

“I call that the United States," says Sam Willis, the owner of Just Turkey restaurant, as he gestures beyond the barrier. "Over here, this is an area where there’s lawlessness"

The so-called autonomous zone was initially supported by Minneapolis' progressive city council. Last June, in a knee-jerk reaction to protests over Mr Floyd's death, a majority of councillors vowed to:

📍Dismantle the city’s police department
📍Cut $8 million from its budget

More than 100 police officers left the force last year - double the usual number - and dozens more are on leave with post-traumatic stress from the violent unrest that rocked the city after Mr Floyd's death

At the barriers to George Floyd square activists sit in the graffitied checkpoint stalls with small heaters and kettles, peering out from plastic windows to ensure no police officers gain entry

A sign on one entrance urges visitors to approach the area in the same way they would "visiting Auschwitz"; at another a large whiteboard lists a set of demands for the city's leaders

Activists in the area argue that the crime levels in George Floyd Square are no higher than in other parts of the city, but claim the incidents here get more media attention because it is a police-free zone.

"There's always been crime here, that's just the neighbourhood"

Don Samuels, CEO of a non-profit and a black former councillor says:

"We've historically been underserved, but now we're being underserved by the 'woke' people [in the council] who say 'we'll tell you, the community most vulnerable to the absence of police, what should happen"

Minneapolis is not unique. Attempts to create an autonomous zone in Portland and Seattle were unmitigated failures.

While more than 20 US cities have moved to reduce their policing budgets, early pledges to drastically cut policing departments are no closer to becoming reality

Support for the movement is also at an all-time low among the general public.

A recent Ipsos poll showed:

📍 18% of Americans supported the movement
📍 58% said they opposed it

Tensions between law enforcement and the Minneapolis community are set to be tested again in the coming weeks, with the trial of Mr Chauvin, the former police officer charged with killing Mr Floyd

In anticipation of potential unrest, much of the city centre - including the courthouse where the trial is taking place - have been boarded up.

The city's mayor, Jacob Frey, has promised the barriers will come down after Mr Chauvin's trial concludes