Nur-D says a decision to show up for his community nearly cost him his life.
“I assumed I was going to die,” Matthew Allen, a.k.a. Nur-D, told Rolling Stone.
Allen said the day began without urgency. He expected a routine Saturday until he noticed social media filling with images and updates tied to ongoing anti-ICE protests in Minneapolis. As tensions escalated following weeks of raids and reports of violence, including the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, Allen said he felt compelled to stand alongside other Minnesotans.
Accompanied by his wife, Allen arrived at the protest expecting to peacefully demonstrate. Instead, he says the situation escalated quickly. He was chased, slammed to the ground, and maced by ICE agents shortly after arriving. Video from the scene captured Allen shouting his identity while restrained. “My name is Matthew James Obadiah Allen,” he screamed, pinned to the ground, “I have done nothing at all….I’m a United States citizen.”
Allen was later released from detention. He said fear did not push him to comply beyond what was necessary. “This is grabbing someone in the street who has done nothing wrong and killing them, and if that’s what we’re doing — I’ve already seen you do it today — that’s why any of us are even here right now. Most of us would rather be doing what we love to do on a Saturday morning.”
In an interview with CBS News Minnesota, Allen described the climate surrounding the protests as increasingly dangerous. “This is real… You could die just for saying, ‘I don’t like this.’”
A longtime community organizer, Allen said he attended the protest to express his “hurt and pain” and exercise his First Amendment rights. “I just don’t think it’s cool to kill people on the street.”