'It Was Very Violent': Outrage Grows After Video Shows Mpls. City Council VP Andrea Jenkins Being Held By Activists

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Support is pouring in for Minneapolis City Council Vice President Andrea Jenkins.

On Sunday, a video posted online showed a group of protesters holding her captive during a Pride Day event. The protesters forced Jenkins to sign a list of demands before allowing her to leave. Jenkins says the group traumatized her for 90 minutes.

She says she attempted to diffuse a disagreement with an activist by walking away, but she ended up being surrounded by a group of people and wasn't able to leave.

A Mother's Love founder Lisa Clemons says she and Jenkins do not always see eye to eye on issues, but she stands with her.

"It was Neanderthal. It was intimidation tactics. It was beneath anything I've ever seen," Clemons said. "You hold somebody hostage for nearly two hours, force them, coerce them into signing a bogus documents that is worth nothing than the paper it's written on, and you believe you got your voice heard? Absolutely not."

Activist Donald Hooker Jr. says the ordeal started with him asking Jenkins about defunding police and returning George Floyd Square to the people. Things then escalated.

"As a politician, she needs to take accountability for what she's done in the last year. And the fact that city council has not passed any legislation like community control of the police, city council is just giving them more money," Hooker Jr. said.

Carmen Means, executive director of Central and Bryan neighborhoods, is running for city council.

"There was a way to be heard, and that was not the way," Means said. "They have a right to be enraged, they have a right to be suspicious, to operate with a heavy suspicion, but what you don't have a right to do is be violent, and that's what we see on that video. In my opinion it was very violent."

Means supports diverse views, but believes what the video shows crossed a line.

"I think in that video we see a lack of care of humanity, we see a lack of care of a Black Trans woman that is responsible for some of the liberations that our Trans community are able to enjoy," Means said.

Ward 4 City Council member Phillipe Cunningham is one of many colleagues showing support.

"I do not always agree with Jenkins, but deeply respect her. I am distressed by this unproductive direct action against her," Cunningham said.