The crowd gathered in freezing temperatures after Bruce Springsteen performed at an anti-ICE concert in the city
MINNEAPOLIS (TIP): Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Minneapolis on Friday, January 30, 2026, in the latest show of anger over President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, as a prominent U.S. journalist was charged over his coverage of protests in the northern city. People marched with signs blasting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the agency leading Mr. Trump’s mass deportation drive, in response to a call for a “national shutdown” across the United States.
Minneapolis has become the epicenter of the immigration policy backlash after two protesters, both U.S. citizens, were shot dead by federal agents this month.
“I don’t think our Federal Government should be terrorizing our people like this,” Sushma Santhana, 24, told AFP as protesters chanted “our streets!” around her.
The crowd gathered in freezing temperatures after Bruce Springsteen performed at an anti-ICE concert in the city. The U.S. rock legend recently released “Streets of Minneapolis,” a tribute to the two killed protesters.
Another protester, 24-year-old Max Maffor, said he was demonstrating “to conserve what we would consider our democracy and all the liberties that we get from living in America.”
Rallies were also underway across Los Angeles, where immigration raids last year sparked protests, with thousands carrying signs outside City Hall.
Trump meanwhile walked back his conciliatory tone to describe Alex Pretti, the 37-year-old nurse gunned down on Saturday, January 23, as an “agitator and, perhaps, insurrectionist” after new footage allegedly of Pretti emerged.
AFP could not immediately verify the video, in which a man said to be Pretti is seen kicking and breaking the taillight of the agents’ car before they emerge and tackle him to the ground.
Some Minneapolis residents were unstirred by the footage.
“So the guy kicked a car’s light, does that mean he deserved to die?” Pedro Wolcott, a Latino sandwich shop owner, told AFP.
The Justice Department has opened a civil rights investigation into Pretti’s death, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche told reporters on Friday, January 30. There is no similar probe for Renee Good, also fatally shot by agents in January.
(Source: AFP)
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