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Big Three Networks Skip Violent Protest In Minneapolis, Only Fox News Covers
Violent anti- ICE protests have continued to take place in Minneapolis despite a reduction in the number of agents on the ground in the state of Minnesota. Last Saturday, more than 40 demonstrators were arrested during a violence filled gathering outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, following a memorial for Renee Good and Alex Pretti, who were both shot and killed by ICE Agents in January. State and local police were involved, dangerous objects were thrown, one officer was struck in the head, but the big three nightly news shows have been silent.
On their weekend and Monday night broadcasts, ABC, CBS and NBC all skipped the story, with only Monday's Special Report With Bret Baier on Fox News Channel providing coverage. Baier led into the report by introducing Steve Harrigan: "Protests against immigration enforcements in Minnesota are showing no signs of letting up. Police arrested dozens of people over the weekend as one demonstration became dangerous. Correspondent Steve Harrigan has our update tonight from Minneapolis."
Harrigan's report would feature behavior that turned violent in broad daylight.
HARRIGAN: Violent anti-ICE protests in front of the federal building in Minneapolis followed a script this weekend seen here dozens of times... Demonstrators are told to disperse. But instead throw bottles and pieces of ice at officers, and one vehicle was destroyed. One Hanson County Deputy was injured when he was hit in the head with an object. There has not been an update to the deputy's condition. But what came next after the chaos was different.
POLICE ON SPEAKER: You are under arrest. Be seated where you are.
HARRIGAN: The 42 arrested did not simply receive citations before being released... Instead local police jailed them with charges ranging from rioting to assault.
Police, many not ICE Agents, assisting and coming under attack, proving that it doesn't matter which uniform the law is wearing, the protesters don't respect any of them. Newsworthy? Harrigan continued with a broader look at the new reality on the ground, both from law enforcement and the lawbreakers.
HARRIGAN: Similar signs of improved cooperation between local and federal law enforcement could be spotted in neighborhoods around Minneapolis, where agitators encourage residents to set up mini blockades with whatever bulky objects are at hand. The goal, to slow down and harass ICE agents on patrol throughout the city... But now some cases it is local police, not federal agents, who are dismantling and removing the blockades and bearing the brunt of the anger in attacks from those who built them.
We then see video of a man in a truck, blocking the street and being told to leave, all the while arguing with and cursing at the local officer. And Harrigan closed by noting that ICE has reduced its presence in Minneapolis by 700, with some two thousand agents remaining.
The closest that any of the three networks came to this story was Saturday on the CBS Weekend News, where anchor Jericka Duncan did a voice-over of a short report on the actual memorial event mentioned earlier, held right before the violence started, and an update on 5 year old Liam Ramos. The protests looked peaceful and musical, lots of bias by omission.
"Today marks one month since the killing of Renee Good by an ICE Agent in Minneapolis. Hundreds gathered in the city for a public memorial, honoring Good as well as ICU nurse Alex Pretti who was killed two weeks ago today. And an update on 5-year-old Liam Ramos, the boy behind this image that rocketed around the world. Just days after he and his father were released from a Texas detention center, the Trump administration is escalating efforts to deport them."
You can see Rep. Ilhan Omar holding Liam's Spiderman backpack, which is supposed to be adorable. I guess Duncan didn't know that the boy's father ran away from ICE Agents, leaving the boy alone, and then his mom refused to open the door of her home to take him in, all before he was sent away with his father. As for why she and the others didn't give the latest Minneapolis riot a mention, it's not something that fits the leftist narrative.