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Photo: Man exchanges words with police at Minneapolis 3rd Precinct during George Floyd uprising.
Film: An Infamous Precinct in Ruins and a Community Organizing Itself
After Three Plus Years, A Contentious Decision for MPD’s 3rd Precinct Passes
by Niko Georgiades, Unicorn Riot and Marjaan Sirdar, Contributor
Minneapolis, MN — Minneapolis has decided on a new site for housing its police department’s 3rd Precinct. Three and a half years after thousands of community members ransacked and torched the precinct at 3000 Minnehaha Avenue during the George Floyd Uprising, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey received approval for a new precinct at 2633 Minnehaha Avenue on November 2, 2023, which the city is calling a “Community Safety Center.”
Throughout the years, the city government worked to find a new precinct location — this year they sought insight from its constituents and conducted a public survey and held community engagement sessions. But with the years-long oppositional movement that had formed to counter the project, the process became contentious.
In response to the city’s moves, activists held block parties, protests calling for “no new precinct” and organized their own public assemblies on community safety while unknown parties vandalized the new building, multiple times.
Seeking to bring light and give space to some of the many Minneapolis residents against a new 3rd Precinct location, Unicorn Riot heard from community organizers, a Minneapolis City Council member and a former Minneapolis police officer. They spoke about the community not wanting the precinct rebuilt and about the ongoing neighborhood assemblies. With the new headquarters for the 3rd Precinct officers in mind, Unicorn Riot looks back at the tumultuous events leading up to this point. See our 19-minute film below.
Photo taken by Fibonaci Blue, from Wikimedia Commons, see Creative Commons Attribution License
