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   Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Sunday, 18-Jan-2026 05:34:30 JST Paul Cantrell

   So today and all week, Minneapolis has been on edge because some J6 Nazi type staged a Saturday hate rally downtown. They were going to “march” into a neighborhood with a large East African population, but…well, things didn’t exactly go according to their plan.

   I haven’t been posting a lot about it today, because I wanted to keep the response local. But I’ve been gathering reports from the ground and folks watching live video, and I think we’ve reached the point where I can share some choice excerpts.

   🧵 1/

   • Jeri Dansky, Steve's Place, Rich Felker and GreenSkyOverMe (Monika) repeated this.
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     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Sunday, 18-Jan-2026 05:36:06 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     ❝
     For those of you curious - the Nazis downtown are getting absolutely humiliated.

     The big anti-Islam protest downtown currently consists of about 8 protesters and hundreds, maybe thousands, of counter protesters. The counter protesters are currently walking/pushing the protesters off of City Hall grounds. True Minnesota hospitality at its best.

     Jake Lang [right-winger who organized the event] and a handful of other racists/RW propagandists are surrounded by about 50 cameras and some antifascists chanting him down. A banner the group arrived with has been broken.

     Currently has only about 5 supporters, and is being drowned out by counter protesters

     The group led by Jake Lang tried to get inside Minneapolis City Hall, but the building is closed, as it is every Saturday.
     ❞

     (This is all gathered from a bunch of different online sources; sorry I can’t link back to all of them, haven’t been keep track properly as I gather, but you can find more primary sources and video, I’m sure)

     2/

     Rich Felker and GreenSkyOverMe (Monika) repeated this.
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     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Sunday, 18-Jan-2026 05:38:26 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     ❝
     People played the Frozen soundtrack to drown them out

     Lang appears to be yelling anti-Muslim phrases on his megaphone, but it’s difficult to hear what he’s actually saying. Dozens of people, including ones from the media, are around him as he stumbles from one side of the street to the other.

     Jake Lang trying to hit people with what appears to be a curtain rod

     Lang is stuck in a window recess against Minneapolis City Hall. He’s soaked with freezing water after counterprotesters hurled water balloons at him.

     Big ups to whoever got Lang with a water gun LMAO
     ❞

     FYI, the temperature in Minneapolis is about 10°F / -12°C.

     3/

     Rich Felker and GreenSkyOverMe (Monika) repeated this.
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     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Sunday, 18-Jan-2026 05:40:07 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     ❝
     After 30 minutes of standing in a window recess surrounded by people, being hit with water balloons, "marched" to his hotel

     He has reportedly retreated / led the crowd to his hotel, very smart guy 🙃

     I sincerely hope that all of the bluster of the nonstop national news networks, as well as the massive mobilization of forces, all end up being for a huge nothing-burger. 20 people?! Even ICE recruits better than that.
     ❞

     Thanks to all the folks on the ground and following the video who are sharing all these reports.

     4/

     Rich Felker and GreenSkyOverMe (Monika) repeated this.
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     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Sunday, 18-Jan-2026 05:42:56 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     I hear there may be a temptation to poo-poo community worry and community counter-organizing around this: “See? It was nothing! Should’ve just ignored them!”

     Oh honey, the reason it went down this way is because the community •didn’t• just ignore them. The reason they were so outnumbered? The reason they were so humiliated? It was because people stepped up in a bunch of different roles, near and far, to make •sure• it went down that way.

     5/

     Rich Felker and GreenSkyOverMe (Monika) repeated this.
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     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Sunday, 18-Jan-2026 05:44:14 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     Hate needs permission. Hate seeks praise. Today, they got neither permission nor praise.

     How many fash would have shown up if they’d felt like it was safe, like it was easy, like they’d be welcome?

     Happily, we didn’t have to find out.

     6/

     GreenSkyOverMe (Monika) repeated this.
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     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Sunday, 18-Jan-2026 05:47:30 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     A lot of arguments in community chats broke out about who was supposed to be where, about what community was asking for people to show up or steer clear, about age-old militant vs. pacifist debates that have basically been stuck on loop since the 1960s (and are, IMO, just •incredibly• boring at this point, sorry).

     But that’s organizing. It’s messy. People argue. People find consensus. People make good things happen.

     And in the end, the people who believe in inclusion and reaching across differences and •building• community instead of destroying it — they have an intrinsic advantage.

     7/

     Steve's Place and GreenSkyOverMe (Monika) repeated this.
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     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Sunday, 18-Jan-2026 05:52:25 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     I am not resting easy yet.

     A bunch of people who are basically straight-up Nazis just got humiliated. They’re hurting, they’re angry, and they’re in my city.

     And they’re pants-on-head dumbshits. (One of their posters bemoaned the “erogion [sic] of our rights.”) That’s not a comfort: sometimes that’s the most dangerous kind of right-winger. Their utter amateurishness means they have no sense of constraints and no sense of consequences. I don’t know what they’ll try to do next.

     We remain wary and •highly• watchful. But I’m going to take the win on this round.

     /end

   • Embed this notice
     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Sunday, 18-Jan-2026 06:02:31 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     • Feznander

     @feznander

     That’s spot on. Some of our most militant activists were/are definitely out there today, and a really good thing that happened in all that messy planning was that everybody gained some mutual clarity about what their role was. The counter-protest stayed in proportion to the protest. If the Nazis had gone and tried to attack people in Cedar Riverside, well…we’d have seen a very different side of Twin Cities activism.

   • Embed this notice
     Feznander (feznander@mstdn.social)'s status on Sunday, 18-Jan-2026 06:02:32 JST Feznander

     in reply to

     @inthehands What's been astonishing to me these last couple months is the complete lack of violence by anyone except goons and cops. Given all the controversy about whether people should show up to counterprotest today, I'd guess the crowd included some of the more militant activists in the Cities. But people have been talking themselves and each other through, protecting each other from their own tempers, even when they have no ideological opposition to using force. It's stunning to witness.

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     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Sunday, 18-Jan-2026 06:49:07 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     • ZenHeathen 🇨🇦🏳️‍🌈

     @ZenHeathen
     I am so heartened to hear this!

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     ZenHeathen 🇨🇦🏳️‍🌈 (zenheathen@beige.party)'s status on Sunday, 18-Jan-2026 06:49:08 JST ZenHeathen 🇨🇦🏳️‍🌈

     in reply to

     @inthehands Thank you for this, Paul. News of Minneapolis' victory is thus reaching all the way up here into Canada, and is most welcome and heartening news.

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     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Sunday, 18-Jan-2026 07:09:47 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     • Kim Possible :kimoji_fire:

     @kimlockhartga
     You’re welcome. It’s sure been giving me life today!

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     Kim Possible :kimoji_fire: (kimlockhartga@beige.party)'s status on Sunday, 18-Jan-2026 07:09:48 JST Kim Possible :kimoji_fire:

     in reply to

     @inthehands thank you for this, Paul.

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     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Tuesday, 20-Jan-2026 12:43:12 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     • Morgan Sheridan

     @morgansher
     Chuckle with a clear conscience. In this case, petty is good medicine.

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     Morgan Sheridan (morgansher@mastodon.world)'s status on Tuesday, 20-Jan-2026 12:43:14 JST Morgan Sheridan

     in reply to

     @inthehands Thank you for an excellent read. Petty of me, but I did chuckle over Lang getting a good soaking in freezing weather.

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     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Tuesday, 20-Jan-2026 12:56:04 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     • Speed demon 🇪🇺 🇳🇴🇺🇦🇵🇸

     @hakona
     I wonder that myself. I think most are aware, but many don’t believe it / think it’s exaggerated / believe a fairy tale version where ICE was in the right.

     I •do• think this is puncturing the sort “Bloomberg Democrat” bubble of comfortable, monied left-of-MAGA centrists. People in that world are •furious•.

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     Speed demon 🇪🇺 🇳🇴🇺🇦🇵🇸 (hakona@im.alstadheim.no)'s status on Tuesday, 20-Jan-2026 12:56:05 JST Speed demon 🇪🇺 🇳🇴🇺🇦🇵🇸

     in reply to

     @inthehands For those of us not residing in the US, is this penetrating the fox-news bubble?