Viral video doesn't show police enforcing COVID lockdowns in Minnesota – Alex Demas

Social media users are sharing a video of police officers shooting paintball guns at residents of a Minneapolis neighborhood, claiming the patrol is a result of COVID-19 restrictions in the state imposed by Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.

“Let us not forget [Walz] sending these people into neighborhoods to shoot people with paintball guns who wouldn't stay inside during COVID!!,” reads one repost of the video. “Here's a clean downloadable video of Tim Walz enforcing his 2020 Covid lockdowns by having police shoot civilians with paintball guns,” reads another.

The video is real and was shot during the COVID-19 pandemic, but it shows the enforcement of a curfew imposed during protests related to the death of George Floyd, not the COVID-19 stay-at-home order.

On May 25, 2020, George Floyd died during an arrest by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in south Minneapolis. The following day, protests began across Minneapolis, drawing large numbers of demonstrators to the city's streets. By the night of May 28, the demonstrations had turned violent and several buildings – including stores, a library and a police station – had burned to the ground. That day, Walz, then in his second year as governor, declared a peacetime state of emergency and called in the Minneapolis National Guard to assist the overwhelmed police force.

“My first and most important responsibility to the state of Minnesota is the safety of all citizens. We cannot tolerate the looting and the recklessness that has occurred here,” Walz said in a May 29 press conference. While acknowledging the importance of addressing institutional racism and police brutality, he stressed that violence and destruction would make peaceful protests and necessary reforms more difficult, noting that many of the violent protesters were from out of state. “None of us can address these problems when there is anarchy in the streets,” he said.

That same day, Walz signed an executive order imposing a temporary curfew in Minneapolis and Saint Paul. “Because much of the destruction and violence occurred under the cover of darkness, we must, in coordination with the cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, implement a temporary nighttime curfew to ensure public safety,” the order said. The nighttime curfew was extended from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. on May 29 and 30. During this time, no one is allowed to “move on public streets or in public places.”

Shortly after the curfew went into effect on May 29, National Guard soldiers began strictly enforcing the curfew throughout the city, using tear gas, paintballs, and rubber bullets to crack down on protesters who flouted the order. The video in question was posted to X by Minneapolis resident Tanya Kerssen on the second night of the curfew and was shot in the city's Whittier neighborhood. The video was widely viewed and shared by local and national media at the time. Kerssen appears to have deleted the original post after it gained renewed attention in recent weeks.