The Unfolding Aftermath of The Death of George Floyd: The Umbrella Man of Minnesota
The aftermath of the death of George Floyd has quickly become one of the most destructive retaliations against police brutality in American history. As of time of writing this, full-scale rioting is occurring across Minnesota city, it is being left to burn as fire departments cannot keep up with the scale of new cases of arson and the police evacuated and abandoned their 3rd District department (see link to video). The anger of the protesters cannot be understated and shows no sign of relenting.
The aftermath of the death of George Floyd has quickly become one of the most destructive retaliations against police brutality in American history. As of time of writing this, full-scale rioting is occurring across Minnesota city, it is being left to burn as fire departments cannot keep up with the scale of new cases of arson and the police evacuated and abandoned their 3rd District department (see link to video). The anger of the protesters cannot be understated and shows no sign of relenting.
In order to bring context to this and what I will bring to light below, here is a brief recap of the events over 48 hours that led to this catastrophe:
On Monday 25th of May 2020, between 20:00 and 20:30, four police officers were involved in the arrest of George Floyd (age 46) on suspicion of forgery at 3759 Chicago Avenue South. During his arrest he was taken out of his car, moved some distance down the street (video) where he was forced to the ground and held there with officer Derek Chauvin (aged 44) pressing his left knee into Georges neck (full video: BE WARNED - footage shows police brutality and George losing consciousness). Despite Georges protests that he couldn’t breath no action was taken to remove pressure by officer Derek Chauvin or his 3 companion officers. After some time, George became unresponsive but continued to be held until an ambulance arrived some minutes later.
On Monday 25th of May 2020, between 20:00 and 20:30, four police officers were involved in the arrest of George Floyd (age 46) on suspicion of forgery at 3759 Chicago Avenue South. During his arrest he was taken out of his car, moved some distance down the street (video) where he was forced to the ground and held there with officer Derek Chauvin (aged 44) pressing his left knee into Georges neck (full video: BE WARNED - footage shows police brutality and George losing consciousness). Despite Georges protests that he couldn’t breath no action was taken to remove pressure by officer Derek Chauvin or his 3 companion officers. After some time, George became unresponsive but continued to be held until an ambulance arrived some minutes later.
At 21:25 George Floyd is pronounced dead at the Hennepin County Medical Centre.
On Tuesday 26th, at 00:41 the Minneapolis police department sent a press release calling Georges death a “medical incident”.
At 06:45 Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Minneapolis Police Chef Medaria Arradondo held a press conference. Major Frey is quoted as saying “What we saw was horrible. Completely and utterly messed up.”
At 08:46 the St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter released a statement; "The video of a Minneapolis police officer killing a defenceless, handcuffed man is one of the most vile and heartbreaking images I’ve ever seen. The officer who stood guard is just as responsible as his partner; both must be held fully accountable. This must stop now."
At 10:30 memorials pop up outside the Cup Foods on 38th street and Chicago Avenue South.
By 12:00 protesters had gathered at the site.
At 14:00 Chef Arradondo announces that all four involved police officers have been fired.
17:00 the protest officially begins. Hundreds have turned up at the site of Georges death ready march.
On 18:30 that evening the protesters marched on the Minneapolis Police Third Precinct. It is here that emotions turn to retaliation and footage shows how it escalated as protesters are seen throwing rocks at police cars whilst the police pepper spray protesters. The clash has begun.
Between 19:30 and 20:00 things escalate further, with damage to police property and tear gas being used against the crowd.
At 08:46 the St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter released a statement; "The video of a Minneapolis police officer killing a defenceless, handcuffed man is one of the most vile and heartbreaking images I’ve ever seen. The officer who stood guard is just as responsible as his partner; both must be held fully accountable. This must stop now."
At 10:30 memorials pop up outside the Cup Foods on 38th street and Chicago Avenue South.
By 12:00 protesters had gathered at the site.
At 14:00 Chef Arradondo announces that all four involved police officers have been fired.
17:00 the protest officially begins. Hundreds have turned up at the site of Georges death ready march.
On 18:30 that evening the protesters marched on the Minneapolis Police Third Precinct. It is here that emotions turn to retaliation and footage shows how it escalated as protesters are seen throwing rocks at police cars whilst the police pepper spray protesters. The clash has begun.
Between 19:30 and 20:00 things escalate further, with damage to police property and tear gas being used against the crowd.
Cont: Despite the fact that the four officers responsible for George Floyds death have all been fired, they have not been arrested (though the F.B.I. and Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension are investigating). We are still awaiting the release of body cam footage of the four police officers at the scene of George Floyds arrest. It seems unlikely this will happen any time soon as it’ll no-doubt be damning and could add fuel to the fires of passion of the rioters.
Over time more video footage emerges from the public which paints a picture of how peaceful protest escalated into destructive riots. Curiously, amongst all of the videos we have seen so far, in the last 12 hours a video of a mysterious figure has emerged which could point to how the protesters' anger became redirected from the police onto the city itself - resulting in looting and, eventually, rioting.
Over time more video footage emerges from the public which paints a picture of how peaceful protest escalated into destructive riots. Curiously, amongst all of the videos we have seen so far, in the last 12 hours a video of a mysterious figure has emerged which could point to how the protesters' anger became redirected from the police onto the city itself - resulting in looting and, eventually, rioting.
The video uploaded to Reddi shows a lone man, dressed head to toe in dark blue and black, carrying a black umbrella, wearing a black gas-mask with pink filters and wielding a red and black hammer (known to Reddit as “the Umbrella Man” of Minnesota) has been caught on video very calmly smashing windows at a Auto Zone (video) before turning and slowly leaving the scene. He is confronted by a man in a pink shirt (known to Reddit as “Pizza Guy”), refuses to speak except to threaten the person recording the video of him leaving the scene. The video can be seen above and here, it appears he aided (if not triggered) the insidious escalation from peaceful street protest into full scale looting in that area of the city.
For those who are not aware, take a few minutes to read up on ‘Broken Window Theory’ (text and video) and ‘COINTELPRO’ (text) to understand how this has a history of real-world cases, and is not a crack-pot theory.
A second video shows the two men leaving the area, somewhat more nonchalant than before. The Umbrella Man seems to ignore Pizza Guy whilst he sorts something with his bag. However, it is unclear whether Pizza Guy is accompanying the Umbrella Man or whether Umbrella Man is ignoring Pizza Guy who is keeping pace because the demeanour of both men has changed between both videos.
Now comes the speculative part...
Evidence has come forward that the masked man is (allegedly) none other than Police Officer Jacob Pederson of the St.Paul Police Department (https://twitter.com/Luka_Duvnjak/status/1266177650747478016)
It is impossible to say currently whether the text conversation between what is alleged to be Jordan's ex-wife and her friend is authentic or not as neither have come forward at the time of writing, but it looks pretty damning of Jordan’s involvement. It paints a picture of an Agent Provocateur deliberately encouraging the protesters to escalate the situation into the war-zone environment we now see today. Hopefully more clarity will be shed on what occurred and who this Umbrella Man really is.
In the past few hours CNN correspondent journalist, Omar Jimenez, has been arrested by Minnesota police whilst the Governor of Minnesota has activated the National Guard to quash the rioting. They stated no reason for his arrest and as this video shows, he was willing to be compliant with their requests, of which they didn’t appear to offer any before arresting and taking him away.
A second video shows the two men leaving the area, somewhat more nonchalant than before. The Umbrella Man seems to ignore Pizza Guy whilst he sorts something with his bag. However, it is unclear whether Pizza Guy is accompanying the Umbrella Man or whether Umbrella Man is ignoring Pizza Guy who is keeping pace because the demeanour of both men has changed between both videos.
Now comes the speculative part...
Evidence has come forward that the masked man is (allegedly) none other than Police Officer Jacob Pederson of the St.Paul Police Department (https://twitter.com/Luka_Duvnjak/status/1266177650747478016)
It is impossible to say currently whether the text conversation between what is alleged to be Jordan's ex-wife and her friend is authentic or not as neither have come forward at the time of writing, but it looks pretty damning of Jordan’s involvement. It paints a picture of an Agent Provocateur deliberately encouraging the protesters to escalate the situation into the war-zone environment we now see today. Hopefully more clarity will be shed on what occurred and who this Umbrella Man really is.
In the past few hours CNN correspondent journalist, Omar Jimenez, has been arrested by Minnesota police whilst the Governor of Minnesota has activated the National Guard to quash the rioting. They stated no reason for his arrest and as this video shows, he was willing to be compliant with their requests, of which they didn’t appear to offer any before arresting and taking him away.
As this continues to escalate we can only hope that the wave comes to its peak and begins to crash soon.
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