Video of 2020 Minnesota curfew enforcement misrepresented online

Social media users are sharing a video which they claim shows Minnesota police violently enforcing Covid-19-era lockdown rules on the orders of Democratic vice-presidential hopeful Tim Walz in 2020. This is false; the footage was taken as officials imposed a curfew during 2020 protests against police brutality in Minneapolis.

"Here is a clean downloadable video of Tim Walz enforcing his 2020 Covid lockdowns by having police shoot civilians with paintball guns… " says an August 13, 2024 post on X, with thousands of interactions.

The video shows riot police officers telling people standing outside their homes to "get inside" before yelling: "Light 'em up" and firing what appear to be paintballs.

The same clip and claim have spread elsewhere on X, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, TikTok, YouTube, Reddit and Rumble.

On March 25, 2020, Walz, as governor of Minnesota, asked people to shelter in place to slow the spread of the coronavirus (archived here). The initial order was set to expire April 10, but was extended until May 4 (archived here).

The video being shared on social media across platforms does not show law enforcement trying to impose restrictions but is from the days following protests that erupted across the United States in May 2020 after George Floyd -- an unarmed black man -- was killed by Minneapolis police. Mobile phone footage showed officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on Floyd's neck for more than nine minutes on May 25 during a botched arrest attempt.

Origin of the footage

A reverse image search of still images from the online clip reveals several news articles reporting on the footage and saying the police were enforcing a curfew put in place following protests in Minneapolis over Floyd's death that turned violent with demonstrators setting parts of the city ablaze (archived here and here).

The articles credit Minneapolis resident Tanya Kerssen for filming the clip and posting it on X, then Twitter, on May 30, 2020. Kerssen's original post is no longer available, but an archived version can be viewed using the Wayback Machine.

Walz put in place a night curfew starting at 8pm for May 29 and May 30 (archived here). It was unrelated to Covid-19 guidance issued by Walz that restricted gatherings to 10 or less people (archived here).

After Vice President Kamala Harris named the two-term governor to the Democratic ticket in August 2024, Republican leaders renewed accusations that Walz was slow to respond to protests in his state.

On May 28, 2020, Walz signed an order mobilizing the Minnesota National Guard (archived here) and initially deployed 500 guardsmen to Minneapolis and the state capital St. Paul.

A Minnesota National Guard spokeswoman, Lieutenant Colonel Kristen Augé, told AFP in an August 15, 2024 statement that the law enforcement officers in the video were not guardsmen.

AFP also asked Minnesota police for more information on the incident in the video, but a response was not forthcoming.

AFP has fact-checked numerous other claims about Walz and the 2024 US presidential election.