Thousands protest ICE shooting in Minneapolis as leaders urge calm amid nationwide demonstrations

The Minneapolis rally was one of hundreds of protests planned across towns and cities nationwide over the weekend.

The city has been on edge since Wednesday’s killing of 37-year-old Renee Good, who was shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer in a residential neighborhood.

While Saturday’s march drew thousands and remained largely peaceful, violence erupted during a protest late Friday night outside a Minneapolis hotel, where about 1,000 demonstrators gathered.

Protesters threw ice, snow and rocks at officers, injuring one police officer, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said. Twenty-nine people were cited and released.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey stressed that the right to protest would be protected but warned that violence and property damage would not be tolerated. He blamed “agitators trying to rile up large crowds.”

“This is what Donald Trump wants,” Frey said, referring to the president’s aggressive immigration enforcement push in several US cities. “He wants us to take the bait.”

Protesters, many carrying handmade signs reading “De-ICE Minnesota” and “ICE melts in Minnesota,” marched through culturally diverse neighborhoods despite sub-freezing temperatures and light snowfall.

Similar protests were held in cities including Durham, North Carolina, where participants said they were motivated by outrage over the Minneapolis shooting.

Indivisible, a progressive social movement organization, said hundreds of demonstrations were planned across states such as Texas, Kansas, New Mexico, Ohio and Florida.

In Minneapolis, the protest was organized by a coalition of migrant rights groups and began about half a mile from the neighborhood where Good was killed.

Marchers called for ICE to leave the state and voiced solidarity with immigrants.

The Trump administration has deployed more than 2,000 federal officers to Minnesota as part of a sweeping crackdown tied in part to allegations of fraud involving Somali residents.

On Saturday morning, three Minnesota members of Congress—Ilhan Omar, Kelly Morrison and Angie Craig—said they were prevented from touring an ICE facility inside the Minneapolis federal building. The lawmakers accused immigration officials of obstructing congressional oversight.

A federal judge last month temporarily blocked the Trump administration from enforcing new restrictions on congressional visits to immigration detention facilities, following a lawsuit filed by 12 lawmakers who were denied access.