WASHINGTON: A US judge restricted federal agents from interfering with peaceful protesters in Minnesota, after President Donald Trump said there was no immediate need to invoke the Insurrection Act over the demonstrations. US District Judge Katherine Menendez ordered immigration agents to dial back their aggressive tactics, barring the detention or arrest of peaceful protesters and drivers and the use of pepper-spray against demonstrators.
The 83-page order gives the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) current operation in the northern US city 72 hours to come into compliance, and follows two incidents where federal agents opened fire, killing one person and wounding another in the span of a week. In a separate legal move that could inflame the standoff between the White House and Minnesota elected officials, CBS News reported that the Justice Department (DOJ) was investigating Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey for impeding federal officers.
Both have called for peaceful protests against immigration sweeps in their state.
Walz said the Trump administration has moved to investigate other Democrats who have spoken out against the president's policies and mentioned the 37-year-old woman who was fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer in Minneapolis on January 7. — AFP
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