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Minneapolis police respond to fights at DFL endorsement convention
Video shows supporters of Minneapolis City Council candidate Nasri Warsame shout and rush the stage, leading to the convention being adjourned.
By Andy Mannix Star Tribune MAY 13, 2023 — 10:01PM
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DFL leaders are condemning those responsible for a melee that erupted during a convention for Minneapolis City Council candidates Saturday, causing the event to end unceremoniously in a frantic scene and with no candidate endorsement.

Minneapolis police spokesman Brian Feintech said officers responded to the convention at Ella Baker Global Studies & Humanities Magnet School to find a large group of people dispersing. Police made no arrests Saturday, but the officers heard several reports of injuries and fights. At least one person was taken to HCMC by paramedics for non-life-threatening injuries, and another was treated at the scene, Feintech said.

Video posted to Twitter by John Edwards, who blogs about Minneapolis politics as Wedge Live, shows the chaos break out at the Ward 10 endorsing convention after supporters of Minneapolis Council Member Aisha Chughtai took the stage. Supporters for Chughtai's challenger, Nasri Warsame, shouted and jeered in the gymnasium, and a man waving a Warsame sign jumped on the stage. More people in Warsame shirts followed and continued to shout, slam on tables and wave signs, disrupting the convention proceedings.

"This is embarrassing!" convention chair Sam Doten shouted, finally adjourning after pleading futilely for order. "We are shutting this down!" he said. "This is no longer safe!"

In a Facebook post afterward, Warsame said his campaign manager "has been assaulted by one of the other campaign staff member, and he's now being transported to hospital by an ambulance."

"The convention was shut down due to turmoil, and all the people were instructed to exit the building," Warsame wrote. "No endorsement at this point, but more questions to ask regarding the process."

Chughtai also released a statement, casting blame on Warsame's campaign for leading his delegates onto the stage and "assaulting me and my supporters as I was about to begin my convention speech." Chughtai said more than a dozen of her supporters were "physically assaulted," along with a photographer documenting the convention, and more were bullied and harassed as "an attempt to scare us."