Minneapolis, MN – On August 22, at 11:30 a.m. the People’s Action Coalition Against Trump (PACAT) organized a counter-protest to the Jake Lang hate rally. More than 100 protesters showed up in opposition to Lang’s white supremacist hate speech, aimed this time at the Black community. Lang has also called for the reinstitution of Jim Crow laws, calls to deport all immigrants from the U.S., and anti-Muslim hate speech.

When counter-protest organizers arrived at city hall, Minneapolis Police Department officers threatened to tow away their sound and medic vehicles. But when Jake Lang and his band of less than ten supporters showed up with two vehicles, MPD allowed them to drive onto the sidewalk. Officers surrounded Lang’s vehicles as they moved forward, effectively providing them with an armed escort.

MPD can be seen on video pushing and hitting protesters, ensuring Lang’s hate speech could continue. Mayor Jacob Frey stated to the press that MPD arrested Lang after he was run off by the crowd. But there was no reason to not arrest Lang for driving on the sidewalk. This unequal treatment of left and right-wing protest is nothing new to PACAT organizers.

MPD also arrested an anti-Lang protester who dressed as Spider-Man and adopted the hero’s persona by facing off with Lang and his ilk directly. MPD threw Minneapolis’ Spider-Man to the ground and stomped on his head before forcing him into a squad vehicle. The protester was released later the same day and received medical care after leaving the jail. PACAT and other community members are organizing a support action around Spider-Man’s September 4 court appearance on bogus assault charges.

A statement from PACAT notes, “If it was not clear before where the priorities of the Minneapolis police, and the mayor with sole authority over them, lie, it should now be clear to every Minneapolis resident who considers themselves anti-fascist and anti-racist that we are not the people they serve or protect. After the complete failure of Mayor Frey and MPD to protect residents from ICE during Metro Surge, and years of violence against Black, native and immigrant communities, we must understand them as ineffective at best and capitulators to the far right at worst.”

The People’s Action Coalition Against Trump and its member organizations are calling for the immediate resignation of Mayor Jacob Frey and interim MPD Chief Bill Peterson, as well as systemic reforms like community control of the police.

The PACAT counter-protest was supported by Black Lives Matter MN, Twin Cities Coalition for Justice, the Wrongfully Incarcerated & Over-sentenced Families Council-MN, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, TC Democratic Socialists of America, Minnesota 50501, and MN Immigrant Rights Action Committee.

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Minneapolis, MN – The People’s Action Coalition Against Trump (PACAT) organized a massive mobilization to protest Jake Lang’s planned “Crusader March,” where he announced that he would burn a Quran on the steps of City Hall before marching into the predominantly Somali Cedar-Riverside neighborhood.

He and a handful of other racists were confronted by extreme cold weather. They were shut down and chased away by an overwhelming crowd of at least 1000, who answered PACAT’s call for a “Protest to defend our neighbors!”

Lang is a January 6 rioter pardoned by Trump; he is a reactionary provocateur making a name for himself through social media stunts targeting Muslims. Lang announced his plans to march in Minneapolis over a month ago, falsely claiming he had a permit for the City Hall rotunda.

Since that announcement, Trump unleashed Operation Metro Surge, bringing some 3000 federal agents to carry out abductions and deportations, in the name of immigration enforcement. Community anger at the operation has only grown since the murder of Renee Good by ICE agent Jonathan Ross last week.

Organizers from Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC), the US Palestinian Community Network (USPCN), Twin Cities Coalition for Justice, and the Anti-War Committee gave speeches and led chants on the mic, as Lang huddled in a city hall window recess well across the street. As the massive crowd chanted and shouted, it was impossible to hear any of the hate Lang tried to spew.

Lang was pelted with water balloons, sprayed with silly string and super soakers. As he grew increasingly frustrated, several members of the American Indian Movement appeared on the scene, and that seemed to be the last straw for Lang. Unable to be heard, or to burn any Qurans, Lang turned heel and was chased back to his hotel by a crowd that refused to tolerate his pro-ICE anti-Muslim message.

Lang has since taken to social media, claiming he was “literally lynched by an anti-white mob.” He continued, “I’m at the hospital now getting staples in my skull… Nearly ripped limb from limb in Minneapolis!!!!” He asked his racist supporters to send him money for his hospital bill and future security.

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