It doesn’t look like things are calming down in Minnesota anytime soon. Since the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent during a federal immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis, protests have erupted across the city and in other parts of the country.
Most demonstrations have remained peaceful, but one recent protest escalated significantly. A large crowd of anti-ICE demonstrators gathered outside a downtown Minneapolis hotel where they believed ICE agents were staying, chanting and banging on windows to disrupt the agents’ rest. What started outside the building spilled into the hotel itself when some protesters managed to get inside, where a few pieces of furniture were overturned.
By the end of the video circulating from the Minneapolis protest, it appeared that one of the demonstrators standing near an open hotel door was urging those who had entered to leave the building, and you could see several people beginning to step back outside. Earlier footage shows a large crowd of anti-ICE protesters gathered in front of what was reported to be the Renaissance Minneapolis Hotel, The Depot, where they believed federal immigration agents were staying after the controversial ICE shooting.
In that earlier video, the crowd is seen in front of the glass doors, banging on them and chanting, but it doesn’t look like they were trying to break the doors at that point. A police siren can be heard at the end of the clip, but it’s not clear exactly what happened next or whether law enforcement intervened after the protesters entered the hotel.
People Reacting to the Angry Anti-ICE Protesters Breaking Into the Minneapolis Hotel
You might expect widespread outrage online after videos showed anti-ICE protesters entering a Minneapolis hotel where federal agents were believed to be staying, but many reactions weren’t angry. Instead of condemning the break-in, a significant number of people expressed support or even satisfaction with the protest actions, often framing them as justified resistance. A common refrain online was that conservative media, especially Fox News, would seize on the footage to paint all protesters as violent or extreme, with comments like “Fox News is gonna love this.” Others drew comparisons to how some Republicans defended the January 6 rioters, suggesting double standards in political reactions. Several users offered explanations for the behavior, with one Redditor calling the demonstrators “patriots participating in a day of love,” and others sharing theories, including false or sarcastic claims that the incident was a “false flag” or that the protesters had been invited in. These discussions illustrate how polarized and contested the conversation has become in the aftermath of the Minneapolis protests.
More people continued to encourage what happened in Minneapolis, with one person joking, “They’re just tourists.” Another suggested turning MAGA’s own rhetoric against them, writing, “I would use the old MAGA playbook and say they were paid MAGA actors.” That comment was met with enthusiasm, as someone replied, “YES‼ Let’s do that.” One Redditor agreed and added that it would be even funnier to post that claim on Instagram, noting that many Instagram comment sections tend to skew right-wing and that it would “drive them crazy.”
Not everyone treated the situation as a joke, though. One person took a more serious stance and said they wouldn’t be surprised if those who entered the hotel weren’t genuine protesters at all, suggesting that at least the individuals who initiated the break-in could have been planted or acting in bad faith. Whether the people involved were legitimate protesters or not, the most important thing is that no one ends up getting hurt.
