House Representatives Claim Antifa Wants to Police Minneapolis Under Muslim Rule

As Black Lives Matter protests in the US continue, the epicentre of the protests, Minneapolis, is working to resume governance. Last week, representatives of the Minnesota House of Representatives sat down with local country boards to discuss a number of outlying issues.

However, what started as fairly normal deliberation over funding gradually devolved into farce after two Republican representatives started claiming that the anti-fascist collective, Antifa, was looking to “police Minneapolis under Muslim rule” and, eventually, bring “communism” to the twin-cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Antifa plans to “police Minneapolis under Muslim rule”

The strange claims emerged during a meeting between members of the Minnesota House of Representatives and local county houses, specifically that of the Hubbard County Board.

During the meeting, Republican representatives for District 2B, Steve Green (Fosston) and Matt Grossel (Clearbrook). The two officials sat down with the board over a number of fairly standard issues relating the distribution of funds meant to bolster Minnesota through the CARES act.

However, discussion was soon side-tracked as the representatives began talking about bills relating to law enforcement reform, saying that he was “very concerned” about some of the legislation surrounding complaints to the police, expressing that as officials, they have a duty to “stand up for our law enforcement.”

Green’s claims soon took a turn for the bizarre and conspirational. Commenting on the talk about defunding police departments, the representative started claiming that Antifa and Muslim organisations were planning to “police Minnesapolis under Muslim rule.”

He further went on to claim that some House representatives were planning to pass a bill that would allow the state to purchase businesses destroyed during the protests and then sell them back to their owners.

Green claimed that this would, somehow, allow “communism” to move into Minneapolis and St. Paul and accused the state governor of subverting the constitution.

Minnesota has seen the proliferation of dangerous anti-Muslim conspiracies

While Green’s claims could be viewed as laughable and amusing, the fact of the matter is that it is the latest in a series of unsubstantiated claims about Muslims in the area. Such claims have proliferated especially since the coronavirus outbreak and the Black Lives Matter protests.

Among the claims that have emerged was the accusation that mosques in Minnesota would remain open during the coronavirus outbreak despite lockdowns of other places of faith.

A number of high-profile Minnesotan politicians, such as Craig Johnson, a member of the Vadnais Heights City Council, were found to have been targeting Muslims, LGBT+ people and Democrat Party members on social media. He was forced to resign from the council.