Harrowing video shows dozens of riot cops enforcing Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s curfew order spreading out in a Minneapolis neighborhood and peppering residents with paintballs while they stood on their own porches and in their front doorways.
The newly resurfaced clip, filmed May 30, 2020 by Tanya Kersson just outside her home, resembles a scene from a dystopian movie. It shows a tan Humvee rolling slowly down a quiet street in the Whittier neighborhood, followed by at least 25 heavily armored cops.
Kersson can be heard saying aloud, “Look at this, they just keep coming–” before she’s cut off by several officers barking orders at full-volume.
“Go home! Get inside! Get in your house now, let’s go!” the officers shouted as they traipsed down the street.
The woman kept filming, at which point an officer can be heard saying “light ’em up!”
Suddenly, officers fired paintballs at the woman and her guests, the gun’s muzzle flash clearly visible against the fading light of dusk.
“Get in! Get in! Get in! Get in! Get in!” the resident shouted to her friends as they made a mad dash to get out of the line of fire.
The muffled chorus of shouting police voices continued through the hastily slammed front door.
The incident came just days after the Minnesota governor, now Vice President Kamala Harris’ running-mate, issued a draconian executive order imposing a strict 8 p.m. curfew for all Minneapolis and St. Paul to tamp down the violent riots following the murder of George Floyd.
The cops were filmed in the trendy Whittier neighborhood of the city, which is home to the Minneapolis Institute of Art and a popular restaurant scene. It is more the two miles from the area where Floyd was killed — where riots and looting raged for days.
“Since May 29, 2020, when I first issued a nighttime curfew, over 400 individuals have been arrested, with over 250 individuals arrested after the 8:00 pm curfew on May 31, 2020,” Walz wrote in the June 1 extension of the original order.
“Because much of the destruction and violence has taken place under the cover of darkness, we must continue a temporary nighttime curfew in coordination with the Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul.”
Ordering the Minneapolis police to aggressively enforce the curfew against law-abiding citizens in their own homes wasn’t the only time Walz turned the famously neighborly North Star State residents against each other.
A few months before the police crackdown, Walz took a great deal of criticism for instituting a “hotline” that allowed Minnesotans to snitch on each other for violating social distancing protocols in the pandemic’s early days.
Minnesota Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka (R-East Gull Lake), said on X at the time, “It’s not necessary and it’s not how Minnesotans want to treat each other. We can all show a bit of kindness to our neighbors as we manage our times and needs differently in the stay-at-home efforts.”
GOP state rep. Mary Franson said on X that the hotline amounted to “ratting on neighbors” and accusing Walz of implementing big government intrusion.
Kersson didn’t respond to a message from The Post seeking comment.