A Minneapolis hair salon owner whose business was burned to the ground during the George Floyd riots is denouncing the city’s plan to cut the police budget.
“That’s terrible. I don’t think they should cut that $8 million from the police department. No. We need the police, we need them,” Flora Westbrooks said during an interview Friday on Fox & Friends.
When asked if she felt less safe now than she did prior to the unrest, Westbrooks explained, “I do. I feel less safe.”
“A lot of my friends I talk to and they’re not feeling safe right now and with this cutting the budget down to $8 million, they’re not with that either. Neither am I because we need protection here. And especially my community, where I live, yes,” she continued.
The Minneapolis City Council voted Thursday to slash $8 million from the police budget.
“This move came just months after the council pledged to abolish the police department altogether,” Breitbart News reported:
According to Breitbart News, on June 12, 2020, the Minneapolis City Council voted unanimously to abolish its police department. The pledge to abolish came on the heels of a pressure campaign spearheaded by Black Lives Matter activists and far-left Democrats to defund law enforcement in the wake of protests and riots over George Floyd’s May 25, 2020, death.
This month, homicides in Minneapolis reportedly reached their highest numbers since the mid-1990s.
“The number of homicides thus far in 2020 is 79, and the number of shooting victims in the city is over 500,” the Breitbart News article read.
In addition, carjackings in the city are up about 537 percent.
During her interview Friday, Westbrooks said she was unsure about the number of residents who support defunding the police, but she noted, “Everyone that I talk to, they’re afraid right now because we don’t have the protection. … I know as for me, I am afraid, yes.”
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help the salon owner rebuild her business.