<\/p>\n
In solidarity with Minneapolis, Erie residents braved the wintry weather this afternoon, holding a demonstration in Perry Square.<\/p>\n
They oppose the Trump administration\u2019s ICE operation tactics, which have now led to two deaths in Minneapolis.<\/p>\n
Stephanie Logue reports.<\/p>\n
A group of Erie residents gathered at Perry Square Sunday afternoon for a short, peaceful pop-up demonstration, braving cold and challenging weather conditions.<\/p>\n
The rally followed two recent fatal shootings of Minneapolis residents who were U.S. citizens. Protesters voiced frustration with the Trump administration\u2019s ICE operation tactics, which they believe contributed to the deaths.<\/p>\n
The first victim was 37-year-old Renee Good. Most recently, 37-year-old ICU nurse Alex Pretti was killed over the weekend.<\/p>\n
A local demonstrator said action is needed to prevent similar tragedies moving forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to pull ICE out of these spaces, and we need to make sure people in these communities can trust each other,\u201d said Trott.<\/p>\n
Despite freezing temperatures, protesters said they were determined to show support.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs you can see behind me, the protesters did not let the cold weather stop them from coming out to stand in solidarity with Minneapolis,\u201d said reporter Stephanie Logue.<\/p>\n
For some participants, the issue was deeply personal. One protester said the current political climate reminded him of historical events involving members of his Jewish family.<\/p>\n
\u201cPart of me wondered what I would do if or when things started to happen, and I can\u2019t sit back and do nothing,\u201d said AJ.<\/p>\n
During an appearance on NBC\u2019s Meet the Press, Deputy U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche called Pretti\u2019s death a tragedy but defended the administration\u2019s ICE strategy. He also criticized Minnesota for what he described as a lack of law enforcement support.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd the fact that it\u2019s the administration that\u2019s being blamed for the utter failure of leadership in Minneapolis is not right,\u201d Blanche said.<\/p>\n
About 100 people attended Sunday\u2019s rally. While the demonstration was brief due to the weather, participants said they made the most of their time together.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In solidarity with Minneapolis, Erie residents braved the wintry weather this afternoon, holding a demonstration in Perry Square.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":97187,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[136,138,137,47708,50,99,375],"class_list":["post-97186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-erie","tag-erie","tag-erie-headlines","tag-erie-news","tag-freedom-of-assembly","tag-politics","tag-protests","tag-social-conflict"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97186\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}