Minneapolis 'umbrella man' was white supremacist seeking to stir racial tensions, police say

Hells Angel's gang member kicked-off days of violence after George Floyd's death, say authorities

Police say a man who vandalised a store amid George Floyd protests in Minneapolis was a white supremacist who tried to stir tensions over the black man’s death.

The “Umbrella Man”, who smashed an AutoZone store’s windows with an umbrella in hand, had been seen in viral video shared online.

According to The Star Tribune, authorities said on Monday that the “Umbrella Man”, who has now been identified by police, sparked looting and rioting in the days that followed.

The store was among dozens of buildings across the city that burned to the ground in the days after Minneapolis killed Floyd, an unarmed black man.

“This was the first fire that set off a string of fires and looting throughout the precinct and the rest of the city,” wrote Sergeant Erika Christensen in an affidavit.

“Until the actions of the person your affiant has been calling ‘Umbrella Man,’ the protests had been relatively peaceful,” she wrote. “The actions of this person created an atmosphere of hostility and tension. Your affiant believes that this individual’s sole aim was to incite violence.”

Sgnt. Christensen said police were not able to ascertain who “Umbrella Man” was, until a tip last week that said he was a Hells Angels biker gang member who “wanted to sow discord and racial unrest by breaking out the windows and writing what he did on the double red doors,” she wrote.

The man had scrawled “free s**** for everyone zone” on the AutoZone store, in an apparent attempt to encourage vandalism amid anti-racism protests.

Investigators discovered that “Umrella Man” was also an associate of the Aryan Cowboy Brotherhood, a small white supremacist prison gang centred around Minnesota and Kentucky with connections to the Hells Angels, according to the affidavit

Floyd’s death in Minneapolis police custody on May 25 sparked protests against police brutality and systemic racism across the US for weeks, whilst some riots occurred in Minneapolis late May.

US president Donald Trump had called the protesters “thugs”, despite this week’s announcement indicating that tensions were inflamed by white supremacist actors.