The Peaceful Observers

This article was originally published in the February 2026 print edition of The Bark, distributed at the University of Minnesota Duluth campus.

On Jan. 31, hundreds of Minnesotans showed up on bikes to pass by the spot where Alex Pretti was shot by ICE agents in Minneapolis on Jan 24th. They protested the federal government's actions in Minnesota and demanded “ICE out”. The day was a slow build-up of community, organized voice, and the grief of a city thrust into the international spotlight. Theodore Martin shares photos from his visit to Minneapolis to document the memorial. 

Two bikers taking part in the “Ride for Alex” memorial on Jan. 31 in Minneapolis wait to cross the street while carrying a flag with Minnesota’s state bird affixed to a hockey stick.

There was a constant rotating crowd of crying faces and solemn looks as people pondered the spot where a man was murdered just a week prior. The walls, lamp posts and street signs lining the site were covered in signs, posters and writing. Onlookers sat and pondered each poster and sign as if they were pieces on display in a gallery. Two posters across the street from where Alex Pretti was killed catch the eye of a woman walking past. She sits and looks at them for 5 minutes.

Onlookers smiled, cheered, and shook the hands of the marchers. As the event came to an end, a woman looked onto the crowd with a deep smile, taking in the crowd. Her eye is drawn to the U.S. flag, the “ICE OUT” written on the back of a jacket, then down the crowd towards the memorial.

Further down the road, visitors were met by silent grief and a crowd paying their respects to a shrine that spilled out onto the street between two lamp posts. One visitor kneels down crying in front of the memorial, surrounded by fellow grievers. Thousands of community members came from far and wide to pay their respects with flowers and signs to place at the site.

Waves of bikers pass across E 26th street to pay their respects to Pretti’s memorial. Several blocks were full of bikers wearing reflective safety vests, communicating to one another when to go and when to stop. The growing crowds on the side of the road joined in their chants of “ICE out!” and “our streets”. Alex Pretti was an avid bike rider, so memorial rides like this were held across the country in his honor.