back to report menu >

At about 5:00 pm we gathered at Loring Park as we do the last Friday of every month. It was the first ride of the Spring, so a hefty amount of bikers showed up: close to 60 was our final count. While we were in the park, a man was across the street taking pictures of us with a very nice, very expensive camera. Two people went to talk to him and left with the heavy impression that he was an undercover cop (I want to avoid any hearsay at all in this report, as there should be enough reports that if we all stick to only the things each of us actually experienced, we should cover everything - so I'll leave it up to somebody else to describe their conversation with the mystery phototaker)

We decided we wanted to cruise through Northeast Minneapolis. We decided before we left that we were going to bike at a normal biking speed (allowing for the single speed riders among us) and stick to one lane of traffic. We left the park, and the first street we turned up had three police cars. We turned around and they pulled in behind us.

At this point I was at the front of the group. A police car pulled up next to us. We were all 2 abreast, waiting to turn (sorry, street names elude me). After a few minutes of waiting for the light, the police officers in the car next to me both jumped out and grabbed the person's bike who was next to me and asked where his bike license was. At this point everyone turned and headed off back into the park. Some people scattered.

The largest group of us met up by the lake and decided that we wouldn't even ride in the streets, but rather make our way to the Greenway and just enjoy riding together, possibly coming back up on the streets if the police decided to leave us alone. We (about 40 of us now) moved back out into the streets, being careful to stay 2 abreast, stop at lights, signal etc. There was some confusion as to which way the greenway was, but before we could make it 5 blocks a police officer pulled perpendicular across the street and they again jumped out, grabbing a few bikes while the rest of us turned around as to avoid confrontation.

After a few more of these snatch and harrass roadblocks, we had dwindled to about 30 people or so. We were riding 2 abreast down 3rd Ave (I believe) with police cars behind us. We were never given orders to disperse, we were just being followed.

At the traffic light in front of the government center, the light turned red while the group of us were halfway through the intersection. (30 riders riding two abreast make a long line). So as not to split the group and leave a smaller group vulnerable to police attack a number of us shouted for everyone to keep going through the intersection. It was then that the police rushed up next to us and jumped out of their cars (3 or 4 police cars I think). I quickly parked my bike at the government center and ran over to witness what was going on.

The police were absolutely out of control, screaming at people to get off their bikes, and throwing the bikes to the ground. A young man was knocked to the ground by the police and was bleeding profusely from the face when he was pulled up by the cops. He was also yelling about being hurt. A number of us went up to the edge of the sidewalk to yell at the police for this treatment. The police responded with mace, batons and yelling things like "Who wants to go to jail next?" and "Do you want to try something?"

One person was chased down for making a comment to a cop. I couldn't see if he was arrested or not. Another young woman in the street was pepper sprayed at close range.

At this point I went to get my bike (remember as soon as the police jumped out of their cars I leaned it against a wall and walked up to the police) and saw that sometime while I was watching them, he police had come over and taken my bike--which of course I wasn't even riding. They had a flatbed truck ready to load all the bikes onto:at least 20 were confiscated. The vast majority of the Mass riders at that point.

We made our way to the police station where tensions were high on both sides. People obviously wanted their bikes bike and were upset about the treatment people received. The police weren't interested in dealing with an unruly mob and told us if we didn't disperse we would be arrested. A few people who had their bikes registered and chose to take a citation for "Interference with traffic" or "Riding on the Sidewalk" were given their bikes back. We were repeatedly told that it wasn't or business to know who was arrested, then we were told everybody was released.

Eric Stiens

Institute on Race and Poverty 612-624-2904 http://www.umn.edu/irp/