DFL apologizes after fight breaks out at Minneapolis endorsement convention

[progree]

8. Some more (from my #7 and the locked LBN thread)

Some more

https://www.kare11.com/article/news/local/mpls-dfl-convention-descends-into-chaos/89-a8b9b335-a02f-4c1d-859d-65af6ff3c90c

Video shot at the event shows current City Councilwoman Aisha Chughtai's supporters were on the stage as a group of people backing challenger Nasri Warsame protested.

A group of Warsame-supporters eventually climbed onto the stage and seemingly forced the supporters of Chughtai to vacate.

The DFL Party is clearly blaming it on "Warsame and his team ... escalating the situation and encouraging conflict":

https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/minneapolis-ward-10-convention-fight-dfl/

DFL Party Chairman Ken Martin called the event extremely disheartening.

"Harassment and violence are unacceptable, and we expect candidates and their campaign teams to work hard to curb such behavior when it comes from their supporters, staffers, or volunteers," Martin said. "Warsame and his team took the opposite approach at today's convention by escalating the situation and encouraging conflict."

Martin went on to apologize to Chughtai, her supporters and her team for the incident.

Warsame is a refugee from Somalia. I hope this isn't friction between Somali and most of the rest of the DFL in that ward, but that's what it looks like to me. Something like this (but not with this level of violence) has occurred before in Minneapolis DFL politics but I can't find the story. Somalis got representation on the city council and want to maintain that and get more. Ditto the state legislature. (And Congress - Ilhan Omar CD5).

In Minnesota, DFL is and has long been THE Democratic party. It's not some radical offshoot of anything, and its political POSITIONS are quite mainstream Democratic by the standards of the rest of the country. It's a little more fractious internally, perhaps, than most.

Well this is an interesting Google search (but I haven't sorted it out yet):

https://www.google.com/search?q=somalis+on+minneapolis+city+council

And to add to the confusion, there's another Warsame that was recently on the city council - ABDI Warsame.

but not anymore.
https://www.minneapolismn.gov/government/city-council/

Here's a Somali-born person currently representing Minneapolis's 6th Ward (which includes Cedar - Riverside)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamal_Osman_(politician)

From the above link -- what happened to ABDI Warsame:

A special municipal election was held on August 11, 2020, for Ward 6's vacant seat. The previous councilmember, Abdi Warsame, resigned from the seat in March 2020 to head the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority. The special election occurred after the George Floyd protests and during the COVID-19 pandemic.[3] Osman said he would address the opioid crisis and advocated for access to affordable housing.[2] Osman defeated 10 other candidates in the race and was sworn into office on August 28, 2020.[3]

And unfortunately this, also too common in some segments of DFL politics:

In 2022, Osman apologized for homophobic and anti-Semitic Facebook posts he made between 2011 and 2013 after screenshots were unearthed of him allegedly commenting "Where's Hitler when you need him," in response to foreign policy discussion regarding Israel. [8]