Thread by @UR_Ninja

NEW: Eviction defenders thwarted an encampment sweep in Minneapolis on June 1 despite aggressive actions by the owner and workers of Big Top Contracting, hired to do to the cleanup.

Full Story 👇
unicornriot.ninja/2022/eviction-…

On June 1, 2022, authorities unsuccessfully cleared an encampment of tents on an unused strip of land off Interstate 35. Eviction defenders thwarted the sweep by asking for documents, helping residents pack & move, & using their bodies & placing objects in the way of authorities.

The encampment with over a dozen tents and over two dozen residents sat on land between I-35 and next to the large Wells Fargo Home Mortgage Headquarters office complex (left side of image). The eviction was allegedly triggered by complaints made by Wells Fargo employees.

The encampment was separated from the interstate by a chain-link fence. In preparation for clearing the area, @MnDOT crews cut the fence with power saws. At times, eviction defenders stood in the way, or near where MnDOT workers were cutting the poles and fencing.

@MnDOT Hired for the cleanup, Big Top Contracting arrived on scene with owner Alfonzo Williams taking photographs & initiating an aggressive sequence of events by ordering his crew to start uprooting tents that people were in. “Take it. Take it. Take it,” Williams barked at his workers.

@MnDOT Neither the State Patrol nor MnDOT had made moves to start clearing tents. Shortly after Williams ordered his workers to take the tents, a trooper told the MnDOT Supervisor the operation was being aborted & everyone had to leave. "Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go. We’re pulling out."

In a revealing twist, the owner of Big Top, Alfonzo Williams, showed up to the encampment wearing an inside-out Agape t-shirt.

Williams is the Chief Financial Officer of the Agape Movement, a group that's been contracted by the city of Minneapolis for "outreach & engagement."

Agape was formed after the George Floyd Uprising by elder ex-gang members who work with the city of Minneapolis. Agape’s stated mission is to “bridge the gap between the community and law enforcement.” They were contracted by the city for at least $375,000 between 2020-2021.

Mostly seen at GFS, Agape members became known widely when they served as key actors in enabling the city to move some of the barricades at the Square on June 3, 2021. Local activists have called them a counter-insurgency force or collaborators, while some others welcome them.

We spoke with an Agape member after Derek Chauvin's guilty verdict: "We've been holding this space down & making sure that there is peace on this block since the #GeorgeFloyd murder...making sure that everything is smooth & people are protected & safe."

Although Big Top owner Alfonzo Williams is CFO of Agape, according to the Spokesman Recorder, Agape stated they were not involved in the attempted encampment eviction on June 1, 2022.
spokesman-recorder.com/2022/06/04/evi…

After the attempted sweep, @abol_media, “an online news source for revolutionary movements,” published a communique on June 4, 2022, that reported that a truck owned by Alfonzo Williams contracting was “torched for assisting the Minneapolis encampment eviction.”

Read the full story from the above thread, here: unicornriot.ninja/2022/eviction-…