City leaders along with North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum held a news conference at City Hall Sunday morning after Saturday protest and rioting the evening before. The demonstration on Saturday morning started at Island Park and headed to the Fargo Police Headquarters and continued on. Fargo Mayor Dr. Tim Mahoney and Moorhead Mayor Johnathan Judd spoke with the demonstrators and heard their concerns and agreed that an open dialog needed to be continuing for all to be fairly heard. The march was to honor George Floyd, a Minneapolis man that died in police custody Monday May 25th. The demonstration went well until Saturday evening when things took a turn and became a riot. North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum activated the North Dakota National Guard and deployed them around 9 pm to be ready to protect firefighters if any fires were started. The evening ended with 10 arrested demonstrators, including 8 for participating in a riot. Four officers needed medical attention, two demonstrators had medical attention and three police squad card were heavily damaged.
Volunteers from around the Moorhead, Fargo, West Fargo and surrounding communities came out early Sunday morning and started to help business owners clean up the damage. JL Beers, Exchange Building, HoDo and Gate City Bank all sustained damage.
All representatives emphasized the importance of open communication with all concerns and genuine need to care about each other. The conference heard from each of the following Sunday morning: North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, Fargo Mayor Dr. Tim Mahoney, Moorhead Mayor Johnathan Judd, West Fargo Commission President Bernie Dardis, Fargo Police Chief David Todd, Cass County Sheriff Jessee Jahner, Cass County. (picture: North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, Mayor Dr. Tim Mahoney, Police Chief David Todd)
Mitchell Walters/Nancy Ann Peterson, photographer