Tear Gas at Bar-Close Weekly in Minneapolis USA 14th Largest Metro in USA.

Star Tribune: Mayhem breaks out at club closing time in downtown Minneapolis

The Star Tribune nearly a year ago detailed challenges police face in trying to rein in downtown crowds on weekends, but I wanted to learn if there was more to write about, particularly regarding the situation late Sunday.
So I followed his suggestion to station myself outside of Envy Nightclub at closing time.
“Between 2 and 3 a.m. is when it all happens,” he said.
And the man in front of the Imperial Room was right: it did not take long.
Several people began fighting in front of Aqua Nightclub. Then dozens of people began streaming into the streets a few minutes after 2, and someone yelled, “Get off the street, get off the street!”
A herd stampeded down 1st Avenue toward Envy, so I walked toward them to learn what was going on. And then it hit me. My eyes watered; my throat burned; I started sneezing.
“What was that?” someone asked.
“Mace,” a guy said.
The cops had sprayed mace to get the crowd moving, and we were all coughing.

Minneapolis (14th Largest Metro Area by Population in the USA) has a small confined area downtown Minneapolis where all the clubs area located.

More and more stories of Flash Mobs (Star Tribune: 'Flash mob' actions worry Minneapolis police), and Police Using Tear Gas as a method to control and disperse crowds is becoming common place weekly used to disperse Bar/Club crowds after 2am-3am when the businesses all close.

Are the Police so understaffed that they are intimidated the crowds?

Are the Police so untrained that they cannot determine the difference between a handful of hooligans fighting and law-abiding club-goers that they resort to tear-gassing the whole Club area of downtown Minneapolis after bar-close Friday and Saturday nights?
Is this a sign of things to come?
The ever sliding on the slippery slope towards a totalitarian Police State?

reply to post by AllSeeingI


....closing time, one last call for alcohol so finish your whisky or beer,
....closing time, you don´t have to go home but you can´t stay here...

Ok mace the bastards.

I am pretty sure there is no law against wearing a gas mask in public as long as you are otherwise law abiding.

But I would bet the cops would be infuriated by someone wearing a mask other than another cop regardless of their behavior. Would come up with some BS reason such as disturbing the peace, or violation of public safety, or act to incite riot as a "legal" reason to rip it from your face, arrest you for 24hrs or 72hrs if the weekend, and confiscate your mask.

No Justice? No Peace.

reply to post by AllSeeingI


I don´t think you are allowed to wear any sort of mask in public.

But this story sure is crazy. people should all file complaints against that police department.

Hose em down.

Cant let those chumps have one single thing in their lives that might make that cesspool of a town bearable.

This is not like tear gas being used in the parking lot after church service on Sunday morning. These are likely groups of intoxicated individuals who are ignoring orders to disperse. Though, I suppose the police could bring in buses and do mass arrests for public intoxication if the crowds refuse to disperse instead of tear gas.

Originally posted by Shadowalker
Hose em down.

Cant let those chumps have one single thing in their lives that might make that cesspool of a town bearable.

Who are the "chumps?"
What qualities make the "Town" of Minneapolis a "cesspool"?

This helps describe the situation ...

Star Tribune: Cracking down on mayhem in clubland

Cracking down on mayhem in clubland:
It is 1:45 a.m. on a Saturday night, and the bars along 1st Avenue N. in downtown Minneapolis are erupting like alcohol-fueled volcanos.

At least 10,000 people spill onto the streets from 30 bars and clubs in a five-block hub that's the epicenter of nightlife in the metro. Guards hired by one popular club line the sidewalk in a show of force. Police cars barricade the street to traffic, and officers have tear gas at the ready. Cops on horseback push through the surging crowd. A few partiers get maced. Outside a pizza joint, one guy suddenly sucker-punches another in the face as witnesses shriek.

Unruly scenes have become common as the city's jammed club district exhales its boozy humanity late on weekend nights. But the atmosphere has been moving rapidly beyond chaotic to tense and dangerous, and city officials have had enough.