Fiery demonstration video predates ICE-related shooting in Minnesota
- Published on January 12, 2026 at 22:51
- 2 min read
- By Bill MCCARTHY, AFP USA
A video of a building engulfed in flames is spreading with claims it shows riots flaring in Minneapolis, Minnesota after a US immigration agent fatally shot a woman in the city. Thousands of demonstrators have taken to the city's streets chanting the victim's name, but the clip in question is old and unrelated, having been lifted from footage of protests that followed the 2020 police killing of George Floyd.
"Antifa supporters are burning down the city of Minnesota " says a January 11, 2026 post on X.
The post, which shows a massive blaze tagged to Minneapolis, refers to a diffuse movement of left-wing "anti-fascist" activists that US President Donald Trump's administration has designated a "domestic terrorist organization."
Similar posts spread across X and other platforms such as Threads, including in Spanish, as demonstrators braved frigid weather for multiple days to rally in Minneapolis against the fatal January 7 shooting of a woman by a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent. Similar demonstrations popped up across the United States.
The victim, identified as 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good, was hit at point-blank range as she apparently tried to drive away from the masked agents who were crowding around her vehicle which they said was blocking their way.
But the demonstrations throughout Minneapolis have been largely peaceful, AFP reported.
The video spreading online relates to a separate spate of explosive and at times violent protests that sprung up in Minneapolis after the murder of George Floyd, a Black man, by a white police officer in 2020.
Reverse image searches traced the footage to a May 28, 2020 X post from Max Nesterak, a journalist for the Minnesota Reformer (archived here). Nesterak posted it as part of a thread describing scenes on the ground in the city through May 27, 2020 and into the early-morning hours of May 28, 2020.
"This is my neighborhood," he wrote. "You can see flames for a mile and feel the heat from a block away."
The posts misrepresenting the video in 2026 lifted a version stamped with an ABC News logo. The outlet posted the footage on Facebook May 28, 2020 (archived here).
AFP has debunked other misinformation about the ICE shooting here.
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