Jake Lang’s anti-Islam rally chased off by Minneapolis protesters

The cold didn’t bother protesters who showed up by the hundreds Jan. 17 in downtown Minneapolis in opposition to Jake Lang, the influencer and Jan. 6 rioter who organized an anti-Islam demonstration.

Lang’s “March Against Minnesota Fraud” outside Minneapolis City Hall was cut short after the crowd chased him off before he carried out his plan to burn a Qur’an and march to the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood, home to the city’s highest concentration of Somali American residents.

Instead, he was pulled off a City Hall window ledge where he was standing to speak. A crowd then followed him four city blocks to a hotel where he retreated, bleeding from a head wound and soaking wet from water balloons hurled by counterprotesters.

A handful of Lang’s supporters were vastly outnumbered by the crowds showing support for immigrants and opposition to the continued U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operation in the state.

Lang’s rally came amid high tension in the city after an ICE agent fatally shot Renee Good on Jan. 7.

Saturday’s dueling demonstrations were a powder keg that twice elicited the response of Minneapolis police armored vehicles.

When Lang arrived outside City Hall shortly before noon, the crowd began shoving and grabbing at an “Americans Against Islamification” banner and flags.

The Minneapolis Police Department confirmed in an email to the Minnesota Star Tribune that there were no arrests downtown or reports filed regarding Lang’s allegation of assault. The department said there have been no injuries reported by anyone from the downtown protests.

City and community leaders had prepared for clashes between protesters and Lang, who spent four years in prison for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. He was convicted of 11 charges including assault for attacking Capitol police officers with a baseball bat. He was pardoned in 2025 by President Donald Trump.

As the protests heated up, it was 9 degrees in Minneapolis with below-zero windchills.

“We weren’t expecting a whole lot of [supporters] because of the weather,” said Zak X, 36, of St. Cloud.

X said he escorted Lang to the rally after they became friends last week. X was charged with misdemeanor assault after he attacked an anti-ICE protester outside the Whipple Federal Building, according to a criminal complaint filed Dec. 30.

“If I wasn’t here, who else would be?” Anderson said.

In November, Lang planned but failed to burn the Qur’an in Dearborn, Mich., at an anti-Islam rally. Afterward, Lang filed a federal hate crime lawsuit against the city, claiming he was attacked.

Protesters on Saturday chanted that Lang was a Nazi and blasted “Let It Go” from the Disney movie “Frozen.” The song drowned out “Ice Ice Baby” by rapper Vanilla Ice that Lang played on repeat from the moment he walked toward City Hall shouting, “Send the Somalis back.”

Meanwhile, a peaceful scene played out in Cedar-Riverside, where more than 100 people had gathered to safeguard the neighborhood from any unrest.

Along highway ramps into Cedar-Riverside, eight military Humvees flanked by unmarked vans and State Patrol vehicles idled.

“They are not deployed to city streets at this time, but are ready to help support public safety, including protection of life, preservation of property and supporting the rights of all who assemble peacefully,” the Department of Public Safety posted on X.

After the crowd chased Lang — escorted by a few men — into a downtown hotel at 1:20 p.m., protesters poured into the streets.

MPD’s armored vehicle returned, accompanied by two squad cars and a van. Police told the crowd to get out of the street or they would use chemical irritants, but people continued marching, eventually circling back to where the rally began.

Crowds at Cedar-Riverside and in downtown dispersed by 2:30 p.m.

But protests continued Saturday evening outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building at Fort Snelling, where people are being detained as federal agents carry out the largest ICE operation in the country.