January 18: Radical Left's storming of a Minneapolis Church and Parallels to January 6
Political extremes put dates of infamy on the political calendar
On January 18, 2026, a group of anti-ICE protesters affiliated with organizations like the Radical Justice Network and Black Lives Matter Minnesota entered Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota—part of the broader Minneapolis metropolitan area—during a Sunday worship service. The demonstrators, chanting slogans such as “ICE out” and “Justice for Renee Good,” accused one of the church’s pastors, David Eastwood, of serving as the acting ICE field office director in the region. Videos captured the scene: protesters marching through the sanctuary, interrupting prayers, and confronting congregants, which led to the service being halted amid reports of intimidation and fear, particularly among children present.
Former CNN host Don Lemon was on site, livestreaming the event and defending the action as a form of protest protected by the First Amendment, even as church leaders condemned it as “shameful” and “unlawful.” In the aftermath, federal authorities, including the FBI and Homeland Security, arrested several individuals involved, including prominent activists Nekima Levy Armstrong, Chauntyll Louisa Allen, and William Kelly. The Department of Justice launched a civil rights investigation, potentially invoking laws like the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act and even drawing comparisons to the Ku Klux Klan Act for prohibiting intimidation in places of worship.
This incident has drawn sharp political reactions, with some conservative commentators and White House officials labeling it an act of “radical leftist” aggression, incited by local leaders like Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey. They argue it mirrors the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., where supporters of then-President Donald Trump stormed the building, angry at what they saw as Democrat-rigged unethical electioneering and illegal tampering with the 2020 presidential election results, resulting in violence, including the killing of an unarmed Republican woman attempting to squeeze through a door window, and hundreds of arrests and investigations.
Both events involve unauthorized entry into a significant public or communal space to advance a political agenda. Though the Capitol riot location was physically at the heart of American democracy, the mob’s intention was fundamentally political, initially using their right to assembly, subsequently turning into a riot involving assaults on law enforcement, likely due to lax security for such a massive group entering such a sensitive area. On the other hand, the Cities Church disruption targeted the private faith of congregants of a small regional church, very much echoing deadly historical radical left attacks on churches in revolutionary France, Russia, Spain, Mexico, and Germany, resulting in millions of deaths. This time at least, there were no reports of physical violence or property destruction at the church, which was not the case when people from leftist mobs attempted to burn down the historic St. Johns Church at Lafayette Square in Washington D.C. on June 1, 2020, only steps from the White House. However, both the January 18 and the January 6 events underscore a growing threat to civilized political discourse: the erosion of boundaries around sacred or institutional spaces, where protests devolve into intrusions that intimidate and divide communities.
As tensions rise—with 1,500 National Guard troops reportedly on standby in Minnesota—these events highlight the fragility of peaceful assembly in a polarized nation. Whether viewed as equivalent or not, they serve as a cautionary tale: when activism crosses into disruption of worship or governance, it risks undermining the very freedoms it claims to defend.