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Minneapolis City Council Members Announce Intent To 'Dismantle' Police Department

Jerry Holt
/
Getty Images
Alondra Cano the Minneapolis City Council Ward 9 representative spoke to community members at "The Path Forward" meeting at Powderhorn Park where she joined eight of her colleagues in announcing plans to disband the city police department.

Updated at 12:09 a.m. ET Monday

Nine members of the Minneapolis City Council pledged their support for "dismantling" the city's police department, representing a veto-proof majority of the 13 city council members.

The council members announced their position Sunday from the stage at a rally organized by black activists in response to the May 25 killing of George Floyd while in police custody.

"We will be taking intermediate steps toward ending the MPD through the budget process and other policy and budget decisions over the coming weeks and months," council member Andrea Jenkins and council president Lisa Bender told the crowd at Powderhorn Park.

The lawmakers said there are still many details to be worked out about what a Minneapolis without police might look like.

A day earlier, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey was roundly booed after he told a crowd of protesters he didn't support dismantling the city's police department.

That scene with the mayor, which was widely shared online, occurred during a march calling for the city to defund the police department.

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