Mastodawn

Paul Cantrell Jan 23

News about Friday’s march / rally / general strike in Minneapolis is coming at me from every direction. Temperature right now is -18F / -28C and this thing is still going to be massive. People here are ready to punch a hole through the fabric of the space-time continuum if they have to. Going to be bed. Tomorrow’s going to be a hell of a day.

Paul Cantrell Jan 23

It’s going to be hard for the press to get their arms around everything going on. Honestly, it’s hard to get my head around it here on the ground: people are marching downtown, people are protesting at the airport, people are holding neighborhood protests, people are holding block parties out in the bitter cold…. It’s hard to even know where to be!

Good news is it will get up to -10°F / -23°C this afternoon.

Jesse T. Alford Jan 23

OK, this is wild

Throngs of people arriving in every direction, signs, cars honking, wave after wave of protesters

…at the NEIGHBORHOOD TRAIN STOP. I’m not even downtown yet.

Paul Cantrell Jan 23

(I did manage to get on the train. First one full. Then the supplemental bus was full. But next train had enough room! It is Tokyo-level packed.)

Paul Cantrell Jan 23

This is hilarious: STILL not downtown, and the reason is that the passengers are weighing down the train so much that the doors get caught on the platform and can’t close. We accidentally shut down the LRT system!

Paul Cantrell Jan 23

Brings a special irony to my SHUT IT DOWN sign

Paul Cantrell Jan 23

Well, that was… large!

Not really sure how large. I couldn’t see the other end of it. If you’re looking at video online, you probably have a better sense of the size than I do from being there in person. But damn, that was a lot of people. Probably because the temperature got up to a balmy -8°F.

#Minneapolis #MinneapolisProtests #ICEout

Paul Cantrell Jan 23

I’d easily believe 20k–30k, but…I’m pulling numbers out of thin air there. Curious to see some good aerial video once I’ve warmed up a bit.

The tone was notable. Still plenty of witty signs: “Stay salty, melt ICE,” Noem’s head on Cruella de Ville’s body, that sort of thing. But lots of people just had “Fuck ICE.” Nobody was really laughing.

One sign said “ICE will melt in hell.” That kind of captures the mood.

#MInneapolis #MinneapolisProtests #ICEout

Paul Cantrell Jan 23

My inability to get a handle on the size of the crowd from inside the crowd is a metaphor for today writ large. In addition to the big downtown protest, there were multiple protests at the airport, clergy arrested for blocking the airport access road, at least two impromptu neighborhood protests I’m aware of near my house. There were food drives. There were street parties. Many businesses that were “closed” kept their doors open and offered free coffee, pancakes, warming spaces. Nobody really knows everything that happened.

#GeneralStrike #MInneapolis

Paul Cantrell Jan 23

And in the middle of all of that, people were still out there watching for ICE, driving all over in the cold, trying to observe them and film them, trying to save just one person from being kidnapped, then another, then another.

If these fascists thought they were going to win by breaking us, they thought wrong. This fight may be on our doorstep for a long time yet, but I do now see anybody looking to fold.

Minneapolis and St. Paul will endure. ICE will melt in hell.

Cedar Fen Farm Cedar Fen Farm Jan 24

I am so proud to be a Minnesota native. 💚

Paul Cantrell Jan 24

And I’m proud to have made it my adopted home!

Cedar Fen Farm Cedar Fen Farm Jan 24

So glad you did!

@inthehands This gives me so much hope. #Minneapolis and #SaintPaul are setting the example for everyone who will need to know how it needs to be done.

#TwinCities #ICEOUT #FuckICE #ICEOUTOfMinnesota

Sharonbw stands with Minnesota Jan 24

You all are heroes. We are watching, learning from your example and taking notes.

A Catalyst Jan 24

@inthehands We're not 1930's Germans. We don't bow.

Internet Rando Jan 24

@Catalyst_A @inthehands Yay! Let's be 1790's France instead!!

✊ Minnesota!! Keep it all shut down!

Phil Brandvold Jan 24

@inthehands we really showed up and showed out today. Today was the first time I’ve heard the “I believe that we will win” chant and actually believed it. For every person down town there were at least as many at other protests or working rapid response teams. I fucking love the twin cities.

@inthehands People have the power, we just have to use it. We are the 99.99%!

Asymmetricblue Jan 23

@inthehands WCCO said 50,000 at their start of their 5:00 news…?

Asymmetricblue Jan 24

@inthehands https://mastox.eu/@charise_lee/115947697931449123

Meidas_Charise Lee (@[email protected])

Attached: 1 video When other countries protest like this.....things change.....WE NEED TO DO THIS NATIONWIDE‼️#GeneralStrike

Mastox

East House Jan 23

@inthehands hearing about 50k. I was there and it took until about 245 to start marching from my location near 4th and Portland.

@inthehands watching this from New England & this thread made me cry. This is not the time line we should be living through, but the community response gives me hope. It's not quite as cold here in Central MA, but we're still doing stand outs & rallies. It's not going to fix what's broken, yet solidarity & community is the way forward.

The Sleight Doctor 🃏🍉Jan 24

@inthehands Gotcha! Drone footage from Minnesota today,
23 Jan 2026.

Source:
https://reddit.com/comments/1ql8tl9

javensbukan Jan 24

@ApostateEnglishman @inthehands 💪

cognitively accessible math Jan 24

@ApostateEnglishman @inthehands no wonder they want to ban drones now.

Mother Bones Jan 24

@geonz @ApostateEnglishman @inthehands Yep. Too useful and encouraging.

Bob Blaskiewicz 🇺🇦 🇨🇦 🇬🇱Jan 24

@ApostateEnglishman @inthehands

"Stay on target ..."

Jeff Girgenti Jan 24

@rjblaskiewicz @ApostateEnglishman @inthehands

@ApostateEnglishman
That's really a lot of people.
I'm glad the good people in MN are standing up against the ICE actions
@inthehands @alice

@ApostateEnglishman @inthehands

Aw, see those poor drivers needing to wait for a billion people to cross the road right in front of them!

Mother Bones Jan 24

@jerrej @ApostateEnglishman @inthehands

I suspect they're transporting people to the event!

Jeff Girgenti Jan 24

@ApostateEnglishman @inthehands

Minneapolis anti-ICE protest looks like a bigger turn out than Trump's birthday / military parade in June when it was 83°

AutistiCritic Jan 24

@ApostateEnglishman @inthehands Looks bigger than either of his inauguration crowds. 😁

Feznander Jan 24

@inthehands By my rough guess, 200 people fit in a crowded light rail car, so ~600 in a 3-car train. When the trains started running again at the end of the march, we caught the third one out, all packed. So that's ~1800 just in the first three Green Line trains out, which was only a tiny fraction of the crowd. I would easily believe 50,000, and I'd guess likely quite a bit more.

Feznander Jan 24

@inthehands and when we got back to our block in the Midway, we saw others heading out to a 5pm vigil at a neighborhood church. There were definitely multiple other St. Paul events, plus many people who chose to stay on patrol to make sure their neighborhoods weren't left unguarded. Just absolutely massive participation

Joseph A di Paolantonio Jan 23

@inthehands I’ve read over 25K

Matthew Reinbold Jan 23

@inthehands Careful. KFAN's Paul Allen said that these are all paid protesters. Make sure you get your participation check before the gate closes. 🙃

Michael Wyman Jan 23

@inthehands and Europeans complain Americans don’t protest in large enough numbers

Paul Cantrell Jan 24

@mwyman
Just took us a minute, that’s all

Asymmetricblue Jan 23

@inthehands I took a car for a change to one of these. Highway exits bumper to bumper for 2 miles.

@inthehands
I cannot stop laughing at how fantastic this is.

And I can't help but think about the Richard Scarry story where they packed the plane too full, so enjoy the illustration. This is how I am picturing the train right now.

Paul Cantrell Jan 24

@artemis
That’s exactly how it was!!

Jesse T. Alford Jan 23

@inthehands I’m staying in the neighborhood today but am glad to have at least one person broadcasting direct experience. I’m otherwise getting very little coverage of the general strike and protest.

MissConstrue Jan 23

@anEXPer @inthehands Same, here in Texas we’re getting none of today’s news, everything here is about the encroaching winter storm...which to be fair, some number of us do die every time we get a winter storm, so...