After DHS retreated from Nicollet Ave after murdering ICE observer Alex Pretti, community members flocked to where he was killed, creating barricades for the purpose of protecting the space from federal agents who may want to return to unleash chaos on mourners.
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“I’ve never done this before,” one woman arranging logs into a pile told me between heavy breaths. “But we don’t want them coming back and bothering people.”
People brought countless waters & hot coffee. They built bonfires to keep warm. Handed out countless mini pizzas from Little Caesar’s.
Everyone looked for something to do, checked in with anyone they made eye contact with. “Do you need hand warmers?” was as frequent a refrain as “Fuck ICE!”
Despite (and because of) an unimaginable, horrific, enraging tragedy, everyone prioritized looking for ways to comfort others.
I remarked early into the afternoon to a woman standing behind a table covered in organized boxes of hand warmers and coffee and masks how impressively fast these things came together.
“We can do this so quickly because we built these networks in 2020, so now everyone just knows what to do.“
Jan 25, 2026 22:35
