Federal agents aggressively deployed powerful chemical irritants during Operation Metro Surge, a recent report found, in many cases at close range on protesters.
The study, conducted by the Physicians for Human Rights and the Human Rights Center at the University of California Berkeley, was released earlier this month. Researchers compiled and verified use-of-force incidents between June 2025 and June 2026 through documentation including news reports, legal filings and social media posts.
The study identified 412 incidents when law enforcement misused crowd control weapons during that period, of which 94 — or nearly a quarter — occurred in Minnesota. Almost all of the Minnesota cases took place in the Twin Cities during Operation Metro Surge, when thousands of federal officers descended on the state between December 2025 and February 2026. The study focuses on incidents researchers determined were unsafe, not those deemed just disproportionate or excessive…