“Hey, hey. Back up, back up. Do not impede me. Do not impede me. Do not impede me. That’s assault.” This is the moment anti-ICE protesters clashed with a prominent right-wing activist here in Minneapolis on Saturday, less than two weeks after a surge of federal agents deployed to the city as part of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. “Exactly 80 million Trump supporters voted for our president and for the agenda to sweep our nation of these migrants.” Jake Lang, who spent four years in prison for his role in the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, before being pardoned by President Trump, encouraged his followers to meet him in Minneapolis — “Support ICE.” — to support ICE and confront what he called a “Muslim takeover” in the city. “Let’s go, patriots.” “Jake Lang. God bless you.” “Mike.” “God bless you. Jake Lang.” “Good to meet you, man.” “God bless you, guys. Let’s move out. City Hall, City Hall. Let’s go. Mike, that’s got to be it, no?” When they arrived at City Hall, hundreds of counterprotesters were waiting. “Arrest Tim Walz. Deport Ilhan Omar. Deport Ilhan.” “No one wants you here, you [expletive].” “Get the [expletive] out of our city.” “Get the [expletive] out of here.” “When immigrants are under attack, what do we do?” “Stand up, fight back.” “We have a First Amendment right to be here. Be peaceful. Be peaceful. President Trump invoke the Insurrection Act. Invoke the Insurrection Act.” Quickly, it became clear that Lang and his crew of about 20 were largely outnumbered. Reporter: Does it concern you to be out here amongst a lot of people that don’t agree with what you believe? “I think the biggest reason that more conservatives don’t come up and stand up for what they believe in is because we run into stuff like this. No, honestly, I’ve been yelled at a lot today and pushed around. A lot of people calling me Nazi and all of this.” Tensions have continued to rise in Minneapolis in the wake of an ICE agent’s killing of Renee Good and then the wounding of a Venezuelan man by a federal agent several days later. Soon after Lang and his group arrived at City Hall, counterprotesters began pelting them with snowballs and water balloons. As Lang and his group defended themselves, throwing punches in return, an individual in the crowd, Raafat Haj, stepped in to intervene and help lead Lang out of the crowd. “I don’t want anybody to get hurt. Nobody. You don’t understand.” Reporter: Do you support what Jake was saying? “No, absolutely not. I’m completely against what he’s saying.” Reporter: So why were you — “I’m a Muslim. I don’t — Because we have to protect each other. We shouldn’t get to this point, guys. I got to go and help him out.” Following the protests, Lang and his supporters fled Minneapolis. Lang told The Times he plans to hold another rally in D.C. next month. With hundreds of additional troops currently on standby to deploy to Minneapolis, the city prepares for continued unrest.
