Video shows activists confronting Minneapolis City Council VP Jenkins until she signs list of demands

A community activist posted a video that shows protesters surrounding a car with Minneapolis City Council Vice President Andrea Jenkins inside Sunday afternoon after a Pride event in the Loring Park neighborhood.

In the 23-minute video, protesters could be seen standing around Jenkins’ vehicle, near the Taking Back Pride event.

The activist who posted the video, Donald Hooker Jr., could be heard at times on a megaphone urging Jenkins to sign a list of demands that includes reopening police shooting cases, calling for Mayor Jacob Frey’s resignation and leaving George Floyd Square unchanged.

"I ain’t never ran from none of this,” Jenkins could be heard saying on the video. “I ran to represent people. … That’s what I did."

Jenkins told the protesters that some of their demands were not within her powers as a council member.

A protester could be heard saying, “I asked you to leave George Floyd Square alone…” to which Jenkins said, “I was elected to represent that neighborhood … what you are asking me is not to do my job. … I’m telling you what the people told me."

5 EYEWITNESS NEWS reached out to Hooker asking for his account of the encounter, but he said on the phone that he had “no comment.”

Jenkins told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS that the video shows, "Black pain, Black trauma, Black death is real. People are fraught." However, she said it was "deeply unfortunate" that she had to face the brunt of people’s anger.

"I don’t think it should happen to any public official," she added. "I think we have mechanisms for expressing one’s displeasure with their government, there’s a First Amendment right, people have the right to do that. We do not have a right to traumatize, detain and or humiliate people for their positions."

She also posted a lengthy statement on Facebook in which she said it’s up to Minneapolis voters to decide whether Frey remains mayor this November.

“Holding elected officials accountable is good. Holding people for hours against their will until they’re compelled under duress to take positions is not,” Frey said in a tweet. “This isn’t a matter of politics or policy. We should all call this behavior out for what it is: fundamentally wrong.”

Jenkins could be seen on the video grabbing the piece of paper with the group’s demands listed on it before signing it. A woman’s voice on the video could be heard saying Jenkins could now leave as the crowd clapped when her vehicle drove away.

Jenkins told KSTP she signed the document under duress. She added that she does believe George Floyd Square should be a memorial but said the intersection doesn’t need to be closed off for that to happen.

Watch the entire Facebook video of protesters’ interaction with Jenkins below. Warning: The video contains explicit language.