We noticed while reading the press release from Beltrami County Sheriff Ernie Beitel, embedded in our post, Beltrami Co. Sheriff addresses rumors and misinformation; Grossell presence confirmed, that "law enforcement had received information that buses of protestors were coming to Bemidji. . ." (bottom paragraph of page 1).
They're also mentioned in Forum Communications staffer Hannah Olson's story, Rumors swirl around Minnesota state rep taking part in citizen patrol during Floyd protest in Bemidji:
The sheriff said his office also received information that buses filled with protestors were headed to Bemidji, so when Grossell called him, Beitel said "I intentionally directed him outside the city limits to watch for buses that may be coming into Bemidji and report his observations to law enforcement. Unfortunately, a miscommunication resulted in some of the citizens placed in fringe locations around the city of Bemidji.”
UPDATE, June 9: The Bemidji Pioneer article has been updates--see UPDATED: Sheriff says credible threats were received Saturday; state Rep. Grossell takes part in citizen patrol [end update]
Something seemed familiar. Where had we read about "buses of protestors" before?
The first place was the May 31 Sioux Falls Argus Leader story, City issues curfew, Guard activated after protests at Empire Mall:
Meanwhile, several downtown businesses were removed movable items in front of their store fronts in preparation for the protest in case it became violent, such as what happened in Fargo on Saturday ngiht.
“Prepare for destruction and hope for peace,” said Pat Klein as he helped the State Thertre move magazine racks inside ahead of planned protests downtown tonight.
According to a now-deleted tweet from the Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce, the organization has been told that buses were en route from Fargo for Sunday's downtown march with out-of-state protesters. The chamber urged businesses to bring in street furniture ahead of the march.
While Sgt. John Spaeth with SFPD couldn't confirm that buses of out-of-state protesters were on their way to Sioux Falls, he said that police have suspected out-of-state protesters would attend.
The conservative Dakota War College blog posted one such message in May 31's Rumors of buses coming from Fargo tonight to cause trouble in Downtown Sioux Falls:
. . .The protests earlier in the day [in Fargo] were peaceful & impressive as far as the turnout goes but buses of people from out of town came at like 10 PM and started throwing rocks & looting & breaking windows.
Those were just dipshits looking for a reason to fight. Very few. The police were very patient with them all day & very respectful so it sucks that a few people not even from Fargo made the earlier people look bad.
Fast forward to a short time ago, and it sounds like the group may be heading South.
On the heels of the Governor’s release that riots and looting will not be tolerated, there are rumors of the same buses coming to Sioux Falls. This is one of the messages going out to people in Sioux Falls across social media:
URGENT ALERT FOR DOWNTOWN BUSINESS OWNERS:
I have been told by a city official that there are 3 buses from Fargo en route for tonight’s protest. Although this is not officially confirmed, some are very concerned that the protest may get out of hand.
The city and DTSF are encouraging owners and businesses to bring any tables, chairs, signs, or anything that could be thrown through a window inside for the evening. The protesters that are destroying properties have systematically used street furniture to break windows.
Update: I am also told that business owners are being asked to voluntarily close at 5:00 PM tonight.
Please help spread the word. . . .
Dakota New now had more of the same in DTSF businesses asked to prepare ahead of planned protests.
Well then. Monday afternoon, the Argus Leader reported in Sioux Falls Police chief: Rumors of out-of-state agitators being bused in appear to be 'false flag':
Tensions rose ahead of Sunday's protests against police brutality as rumors about agitators being bused to Sioux Falls from Fargo spread on social media.
Hours before the March for George Floyd rally to honor the man who died while in custody of Minneapolis police a week ago kicked off at Van Eps Park in downtown Sioux Falls, at least two business organizations took to social media to call on their members to prepare for possible riots similar to what is happening across the nation.
The Sioux Falls Area Chamber of Commerce and Downtown Sioux Falls, Inc. had received tips from an unnamed sources that protesters from outside of Sioux Falls planned to attend the rally and incite violence. That prompted business owners and volunteers to clear their areas of town of any loose objects that could be used as projectiles to break windows and cause property damage.
"We're being told that buses are en route from Fargo for today's march downtown. DT businesses - please bring in any furniture, signs, etc. that could possibly be thrown through windows. Let's keep our city safe and peaceful!," the Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce tweeted.
Sioux Falls Police Chief Matt Burns said Monday morning that authorities were looking for the buses and didn't find any evidence of them arriving and unloading protesters.
"In any event like this with this much exposure, there is lots of information floating around out there on social media," Burns said. "Some of it has some truth to it, and some of it is just a false flag. It appears at this time that that's what that was."
The American Civil Liberties Union's South Dakota chapter criticized the post and subsequent deletion of it as a distraction from the issues peaceful demonstrators hope to shine a light on.
"When we focus the conversations on outsiders, we're missing the point," said Libby Skarin, campaigns director for the ACLU office in Sioux Falls.
Chamber president Jeff Griffin said the goal of sharing the information he received was to alert business owners of a potential for the march to devolve into destruction. And when that goal was achieved, the tweet was deleted so he didn't have to dedicate a staff person to "babysit" the comment section for unsavory and bigoted responses that had followed. . ..
There's more, but you get the drift.
By Tuesday morning, Forum Communications blogger Mike McFeely wrote in Protester-filled buses elusive as Bigfoot:
There were rumors that buses filled with out-of-state protesters rolled into Fargo on Saturday, May 30, to start trouble.
There were also rumors of similar buses, these carrying paid protesters, rolling toward Minot, N.D.
There were later rumors that these buses were headed down I-29 from Fargo to Sioux Falls, S.D., to start trouble down there.
Who knows where the buses are now.
Ottumwa, Iowa? Kearney, Neb.? Gillette, Wyo.?
Certainly they are somewhere.
Certainly they aren't a figment of the imagination.
Hope not. If so, there are going to be a lot of conservatives miffed the mysterious buses that always show up at protests, always filled with paid out-of-state protesters, always looking for trouble, don't actually exist.
They're like Bigfoot.
A segment of the populace talks about them as if they're real, they have their true believers, but nobody ever provides substantive proof they exist.
Maybe a grainy, out-of-focus photo of one of these buses would help.
I asked a Fargo Police Department spokeswoman if there is any evidence the mystery buses were in Fargo on Saturday. They were supposedly in a Kmart parking lot, where members of the local media searched to no avail.
"We’re still looking into all that information. We know there were several vehicles downtown without plates during the riot and march," she replied in an email.
Police chief Dave Todd said in his Sunday morning remarks assessing his department's response to the downtown looting that he believed 40-50 people came from out of town "not to participate in the event, but to hijack it and turn it into something else."
He didn't provide further details, nor did the department spokeswoman when asked where these out-of-towners came from.
Todd did say the department got its information from intelligence provided by undercover officers embedded in the peaceful march and by monitoring social media.
We do know that eight of the 10 people being held in the Cass County jail on riot-related charges were locals. Seven from Fargo, one from West Fargo. One person didn't have a permanent address and the other was from California.
So at least 80% of those arrested didn't ride a bus to the protest. Unless it was a MAT bus.
Baffling, is what it is.
I'm not doubting Todd's information. If he says 40-50 people came from out of town to stir up trouble amongst the thousands of peaceful protesters, I'll take him at his word and keep asking if the department can provide more information. Maybe the department will make more arrests based on video that captured the rioters' faces.
I don't doubt that people drove from elsewhere looking to agitate. But the buses? I want to know more about the buses I keep hearing about on Facebook and Twitter.
Are they comfortable coach buses with air conditioning and TVs? Or are they old rattletrap school buses from 30 years ago? Maybe they're super-fancy like the tour buses second-level country music stars roll around in. I don't know how much a professional protester makes, so I don't know what they can afford.
Nobody wants to believe locals are ever the bad guys in these cases. It's always paid protesters being bused in to wreak havoc. Even if the locals are the ones being arrested. Doesn't really seem fair.
You'd think law enforcement would be able to spot the buses, if they exist, and turn them around at the city limits like a sheriff in an old western movie.
I know this: Starting rumors about bused-in protesters allows conservatives to miss the point of the marches and protests completely, which is convenient. Instead of focusing on the substance behind the protest, in this case police brutality and people of color feeling like their concerns are continually brushed aside by the white establishment, carping about paid protesters coming in by the busload gives aggrieved conservatives more about which to be aggrieved.
They imagine a roving band of protesters cruising from city to city, town to town to cause trouble. Like a carnival of chaos.
Organized lefty groups riding around in buses, probably smoking weed and listening to rap, going from virginal burg to virginal burg causing trouble is the right's nightmare.
It's an amazing, mysterious story. Like Bigfoot.
And a helluva lot easier to get worked up about than, you know, actually addressing the problems that led to the peaceful protests in the first place.
Bluestem has come to believe that the owner of Off Grid Armory and state representative Matt Grossell, R-Clearwater, spent their night on the town in Bemidji on a snipe hunt.
We have no doubt we'll see more prairie chicken puffery and strutting from the patriots about their vigilante bravado protecting the citizens of Beltrami County from vaporware, but then, self-awareness doesn't seem to be Grossell's strong suit. Perhaps they might not share their escapades on social media.
Related posts:
- Was Minnesota state representative Matt Grossell out with vigilantes during Bemidji curfew?
- In more sober moments than Saturday morning, lawmaker has more respect for hospital staff
- Minnesota state representative Matt Grossell may not want any more Muslim colleagues elected
- MN2A GOP candidate shares views of Pope, LGBT & black people & Muslims on Facebook
- Republican tells Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey 'Don't touch me' [VIDEO] [City Pages]
Image: a snipe hunt.
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