George Floyd protests: Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey made to do 'Walk of Shame' after refusing to defund police
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey was booed and made to leave demonstrations on Saturday, June 6 after he refused to support the defunding of city police. The United States has seen countrywide protests for more than a week now in the aftermath of the death of a 46-year-old African-American man, George Floyd at the hands of former Minnesota police officers.
Frey addressed a large crowd of protesters who were demanding an end to police brutality and racial injustice while calling for governments to defund police departments. Frey admitted he was aware of the problems plaguing the Minneapolis Police Department and called for "structural reform."
He said, "I do have to take responsibility here. I've been coming to grips with my own brokenness in this situation, my own failures, my own shortcomings, and I know there needs to be deep-seated, structural reform in terms of how the department operates. The systemic racist system needs to be revamped. The police union needs to be put in its place."
However, when one of the demonstrators asked whether Frey would commit to defunding the Minneapolis Police Department, saying, "We don't want people with guns toting around in our community shooting us down. It is a yes or a no. Will you defund the Minneapolis Police Department?"
She added while instructing the crowd to quiet down, "It's important we hear this, 'cause if y'all don't know, he's up for re-election next year. And if he says 'no,' guess what the f**k we're going to do next year?"
Frey refused to make the commitment to defund the police, saying, "I do not support the full abolition at the police department," causing protestors to boo and demanded that he leave the protest immediately."
One user tweeted, "Jacob Frey has always been clear on how he’s felt about police. Nice to hear the people of Minneapolis be so clear on how they feel about him," while another wrote, "Jacob Frey came out of his home in front of thousands of protesters and said 'I do not support the abolition of the Minneapolis Police Department.'What a f**king joke!"
A user wrote, "Jacob frey and justin trudeau are the SAME F**KING PERSON . both spineless neoliberal dumbasses who make a fool of themselves every other week," while another expressed, "Jacob frey showed his true colors today when he wouldn’t turn his back on his cop friends and start defunding and dismantling the police."
As protestors chanted "Go home, Jacob," the scene quickly turned into something from HBO's 'Game of Thrones' as protesters began chanting, "Shame," in a reflection of the scene where the character, Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey) was made to do a literal "walk of shame."
A user tweeted, "Jacob Frey got that Game of Thrones walk of shame," while another wrote, "I can’t believe they made Jacob Frey do the GOT shame walk..omggggg." Another expressed, "As a GoT fan I really wish we could have stripped Jacob Frey and thrown rotten food at him while we chanted “shame” after he tried to liberal his way out of a yes or no question #AbolishMPD #Shame #AbolishThePolice."
One user expressed, "JACOB FREY RLLY CAME OUT TO THE DEFUND THE POLICE PROTEST TO SAY HE DIDN'T SUPPORT DEFUNDING THE POLICE AND GOT BOOED BACK HOME BY A CROWD OF THOUSANDS CHANTING "SHAME" LIKE HE WAS CERSEI FROM GAME OF THRONES."
Another opined, "They brought out the GoT "shame" chant on his ass. Nobody is immune, everybody can get, republicans, democrats, police, politicians, everybody..."