White Supremacists Shoot Minneapolis Protesters Who Are Demanding Justice for Jamar Clark!

November 24, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

At 10:45, Monday night, a group of white supremacists opened fire on protesters demanding justice for Jamar Clark—a young Black man murdered by Minneapolis police (see Police Murder in Minneapolis: Occupation Demands Justice for Jamar Clark).

The attack took place about a block from the police station where protesters have been camped out in bitter cold for nine days. Five protesters—all Black men—were shot. They were taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Two of the wounded were hit in the leg, another in the arm and a fourth (who underwent surgery) in the stomach.

From all available information, white supremacists came prepared to instigate a confrontation and an armed assault. And the shootings took place in a climate where the movement against police terror is being demonized, and people are being whipped up to attack it, on Fox News and in white supremacist social media. White supremacists have been threatening the encampment for days now. On one night a car drove through the camp, shouting, “White lives matter.” Reports from the protesters say four people came into the protest with masks on, that people from the encampment’s safety team asked them to take off their masks and they refused.

As we post this article, it is being reported that two suspects were arrested today in the shooting. But it is highly revealing that, according to witnesses, police on the scene were more concerned with roping in and suppressing the protesters than capturing the armed attackers. One protester who was at the scene of the shooting and helped get some of the injured into a SUV to go to the hospital said that when the cops drove up they were concerned with controlling the crowd, not helping the injured, they were “going after the crowd and pushing us back” and people were saying, “why are you doing this” and then the cops maced some people. Another woman who was at the scene of the shooting said she asked two cops who were just standing around, what are you going to do about this, and they didn’t do anything and just told her to “call 911” and that then no police or ambulance came for 15 minutes.

Whether or not there is a direct connection between this attack and the authorities, there is the history—including in the civil rights movement—of the collaboration between KKK violence and the police in attacks like this.

The low-key media response to this outrage is also revealing. Imagine if the roles were reversed—or if protesters exercised a legal and legitimate right to self-defense in this or a similar situation—what the hysteria and repression would have been like!

Protesters in Minneapolis are not backing down, and have called on people to come support them. Everyone with a conscience must take a firm stand NOW against police and “unofficial” white supremacist murder and terror, including standing with the courageous protesters in Minneapolis who continue to demand justice.

WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?

 

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