Republicans condemned Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., for telling protesters in Minnesota to “get more confrontational” if Derek Chauvin isn’t convicted of murdering George Floyd.
Brooklyn Center, Minnesota has become a flashpoint for protests after the fatal police shooting of Daunte Wright. Waters was there on Saturday night.
Asked about the Chauvin murder trial in nearby Minneapolis, Waters told reporters if the former police officer isn’t found guilty of murdering Floyd, “We’ve got to stay on the street and we’ve got to get more active, we’ve got to get more confrontational. We’ve got to make sure that they know that we mean business.”
Waters said she was “hopeful” Chauvin would be convicted of murder, but if he isn’t, “we cannot go away.”
Community members protest after the fatal shooting of Daunte Wright in Brooklyn Center, Minn., on April 15, 2021. Credit: Jasper Colt-USA TODAY
Republicans were quick to push back.
“Telling rioters who have burned buildings, looted stores, and assaulted journalists to get ‘more confrontational’Â is incredibly irresponsible. Every House Democrat should condemn Maxine Waters’Â call for violence,” National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Mike Berg told Fox News.
“Why is Maxine Waters traveling to a different state trying to incite a riot? What good can come from this?” Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., wrote on Twitter.
“The Radical Left don’t care if your towns are burning, if there’s violence in your streets, or if the police are too defunded to defend their communities. As long as the Left appeases their anti-America base, their job is done,” Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., wrote on Twitter.
“Why is a sitting member of Congress encouraging protesters to get ‘confrontational?'” Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., wrote on Twitter.
Waters said she plans to stay in Minnesota until Monday when closing arguments are expected in the Chauvin trial, New York Times reporter Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs reported.Â
“The way to get in control is not to allow them to win,” Waters said of political opponents, in comments that aired on FOX 9 in Minneapolis. “You’ve got to register and you’ve got to vote and you’ve got to take the power.”
She told MSNBC that she was in Minnesota to be “auntie Maxine” and support young people of color.
“We have to give support to our young people who are struggling and trying to make this justice system work for everybody. They see their peers being killed. Minneapolis is a great example of what’s wrong with the criminal justice system, what’s wrong with policing,” she told MSNBC on Sunday. “I wanted to be there as auntie Maxine to show them, not only do I love them and support them, but they can count on me to be with them at this terrible time in all of our lives.”
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Waters has a history of in-your-face remarks and impassioned statements.
In 2018, she called for her supporters to “create a crowd” and to “push back” on members of the Trump administration in public.
“Let’s make sure we show up wherever we have to show up. And if you see anybody from that Cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd,” Waters said. “And you push back on them. And you tell them they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere.”
Fox News’ Brie Stimson and Ronn Blitzer contributed to this report.