Democrats and Republicans call Minneapolis DFL chairperson's Third Precinct comments inflammatory

Officials from both parties are condemning the chairperson of the Minneapolis DFL Party for calling the 2020 burning of the Third Precinct police headquarters a "genuine revolutionary moment" for the city of Minneapolis.

In an opinion piece called "The cops started it," written for Southside Pride, Devin Hogan said the fire was an "act of pure righteousness to open new worlds of understanding," calling it a "genuine revolutionary movement" and saying "the people declared themselves ungovernable and unilaterally took their power back."

Minnesota DFL Party Chair Ken Martin said the burning of the precinct actually hindered efforts to pass police reform bills. In a statement on Twitter shared by at least one other Democratic lawmaker, Martin wrote, "We are not anti-law enforcement; we are pro-public safety."

Martin also called Hogan's words "dangerous, violent and inflammatory rhetoric" in an opinion piece for the Minnesota Reformer on Tuesday.

"I think Devin's justification for burning down a police precinct is just wrong," Martin said in an interview Wednesday, adding that Hogan's piece does not represent the views of everyone in the party.

Some Republicans said the words exemplified Democrats' push to defund the police. On Tuesday, Minnesota Republican Party Chairwoman Jennifer Carnahan said they demonstrated that "Democrats believe destruction is the pathway to change."

U.S. Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., also weighed in on Twitter, calling Hogan's statements "proof Democrats only care about advancing their radical agenda, not the safety of Americans."

Hogan said Wednesday night that "immense" amounts of praise have come in in response to the article. "All I'm trying to do is tell the story of what happened from the perspective of the people that were in the situation that the police were escalating," Hogan said.