Arrests reported after protesters stage sit-in at Minnesota state office building
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Protesters staged a sit-in Tuesday in the lobby area of the Retirement Systems Building in St. Paul, calling on the state to cut financial ties to Israel.
Later Tuesday, organizers of the sit-in said 11 protesters were arrested when they refused to leave the building when it closed for the day.
The group of activists was protesting the State Board of Investment on the same day it held a quarterly meeting. The group, which occupied the space peacefully beginning at 8:30 a.m., had sought a number of demands from state leaders. Its priority was the divestment from and halt to purchasing Israeli bonds.
They also sought the establishment of a task force to investigate and publicly release its findings “regarding the entanglement of SBI investments in the crimes of genocide and apartheid,” according to a statement by the Minnesota Anti-War Committee.
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The board met virtually on Tuesday, as the protest took place. Demonstrators demanded the return to in-person public meetings each quarter, the statement said. The committee also said Tuesday’s meeting was supposed to have been held on Aug. 20, or in the third quarter.
It was postponed shortly after the committee and other pro-Palestinian groups published a social media post announcing plans to “pack the room” for the meeting.
The board’s multiple cancellations or postponements of meetings this year has frustrated protesters, who said they want to attend to express opposition to the state’s financial ties to Israel.
Ulysses Dolan, an organizer with the protest group, said it objects to the board delaying meetings and making them remote.
“These meetings are supposed to be quarterly, and they’re supposed to happen publicly,” Dolan said. That way, he added, institutions and employees with pensions managed by SBI are able to comment about publicly funded and pension-linked investments. They also could speak directly to their elected officials.
The investment board is chaired by Gov. Tim Walz. Attorney General Keith Ellison, Secretary of State Steve Simon and State Auditor Julie Blaha sit on the board.
Dolan also said there’s historical precedent for divestment.
"Our model for divestment is mirrored directly after the push to divest from South Africa in 1985. Our demands are no different than they were 40 years ago,” he said. “The board has shown that it is able to do this, and so they can do it again today.”
Protest organizers said the people who were arrested late Tuesday afternoon remained in the Ramsey County Jail as of Tuesday evening.
The Minnesota State Patrol confirmed that 11 people were arrested for trespassing, and said that no force was used in the arrests.
