During a press conference on Saturday, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) stated that the “best estimate… that I heard” is that 80% of the people rioting in the state are not from Minnesota.
Citing no official data, Walz explained, “I want to just be very clear, as I said earlier in the week, this is not about saying, oh, this isn’t us, it’s everybody from everywhere else. We understand that the catalyst for this was Minnesotans, and Minnesotans’ inability to deal with inequality, inequities, and, quite honestly, the racism that has persisted. I am not denying that. But what we’re at right now — and we’re trying to get numbers on this. And I will try, and what I’m asking the media to help us on, we’re going to start releasing who some of these people are. And they’ll be able to start tracing that history of where they’re at and what they’re doing on the dark web and how they’re organizing. But I’m not trying to say that — I think our best estimate right now that I heard is about 20% is what we think are Minnesotans and about 80% are outside. So, I’m not trying to deflect in any way. I’m not trying to say there aren’t Minnesotans amongst this group.”
Update: Jail records have since shown that the vast number of arrested Minneapolis protesters have Minnesota addresses.
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