Minneapolis remains under emergency declaration, but no curfew Friday night

As they make decisions about how to protect the city during a summer of unrest, Minneapolis' elected leaders are trying to balance the concerns of residents who want a larger law enforcement presence to prevent rioting and looting against the pain that presence triggers in historically overpoliced communities.

Those concerns bubbled up during Friday's City Council meeting — hours after the curfew was lifted — as elected officials weighed a variety of public safety issues: how to respond after this week's unrest, whether to approve a temporary site for the Third Precinct that burned in the aftermath of George Floyd's death, and whether to start allowing more protective coverings over store windows.

Many of those decisions will require collaboration between Mayor Jacob Frey and the City Council.

Curfew came and went Friday morning with barely a hint of what erupted earlier in the week, when rioters targeted buildings up and down Nicollet Mall and block after block of sometimes fiery destruction resulting in more than 130 arrests. The return to relative calm prompted authorities to decide against implementing another curfew. Minnesota Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington said law enforcement remained ready to respond in steady numbers if looting, violence and fires continued.

"We are not completely stepping that down, frankly. There will still be State Patrol on tap for this weekend; there will still be DNR and other state officers," Harrington said. Minneapolis and St. Paul also have their strike force teams ready to respond rapidly if crises emerge, he said, and other agencies are ready to help out as well.

Harrington said there were still about 100 arrests by all law enforcement agencies before the curfew expired at 6 a.m. Friday, 80 for curfew violations. Others were for weapons violations and narcotics. The National Guard, which was deployed Wednesday night, remained in Minneapolis on Friday.

In Minneapolis, the mayor can declare a state of emergency, which triggers the ability to institute a curfew. If the city wants that state of emergency to remain in effect for more than 72 hours, the City Council must ratify that.

Frey declared a temporary emergency Wednesday night after crowds gathered on Nicollet Mall following false social media reports that police had killed a Black man. The man shot and killed himself as police approached him in connection with a homicide.

That emergency would have expired Saturday night, but council members extended it to 8 a.m. Monday. Before they did, some members asked Frey to clarify the point of curfews used during unrest that has happened since Floyd's death.

Council Member Phillipe Cunningham, who represents part of the North Side, which has been hit particularly hard by a recent spike in violent crime, asked the mayor whether the point of a curfew was to protect people's safety or protect people's property.

"I just want to name, for the record, that it makes us feel a certain kind of way on the North Side when it feels that the property of downtown has a larger priority than our lives here in north Minneapolis," Cunningham said, adding that some people were shot during the curfew.

Frey said the purpose of a curfew is to protect people, prevent property damage and allow police to more easily distinguish peaceful protesters from arsonists and other destructive rioters. He asked Cunningham to clarify whether they wanted more law enforcement on the North Side.

"No," Cunningham said, adding later: "I just wanted to name that juxtaposition of experience."

Late Friday, four men were shot and wounded in north Minneapolis by suspects who fled, police said. The gunfire marked yet another outbreak of violence in Minneapolis, much of it unrelated to the unrest.

The council had been expected to vote Friday on a lease for a temporary site for the Third Precinct at 2633 Minnehaha Av. They decided to take more time to review that after Council Member Cam Gordon, who represents the area, said some residents raised concerns about their safety, noting the police stations have been focal points for protests and destruction. The precinct's headquarters on E. Lake Street was destroyed during unrest after Floyd's death.

"Probably, if this was a year ago, this wouldn't have raised the same concerns," Gordon said, "but everything about community safety has changed right now in the city of Minneapolis since the killing of George Floyd, and people are anxious to get involved and engaged and having the discussions about what the new community safety is."

Separately, Council Vice President Andrea Jenkins and Council Member Lisa Goodman said they are working on a proposal that would make it easier for business owners to place retractable coverings over windows.

Business owners have said they are frustrated by a city ordinance prohibiting exterior security shutters, noting that windows broken during unrest can cost thousands of dollars to replace.

"I do think this extraordinary time in our history calls for responsive flexibility from the City Council to be able to really relook at these ordinances that may or may not necessarily serve our community in the ways that we want them to now," Jenkins said.

Liz Navratil • 612-673-4994 Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482