Ben Eisinger owns True Water Fly Shop downtown Kalispell. In a video posted to social media, he said it wasn’t easy to close his business for the day.
“When you wake up and you just want to make a difference, but you don’t feel like you can – you can. You can make the decision to be closed, you can make the decision to help in some way."
Eisinger said he knows the national strike may anger some. But he said what’s occurred in Minnesota isn’t OK.
Federal immigration agents shot and killed two Minneapolis residents in recent weeks who were protesting large ICE operations in their city. Several other people have also died during immigration sweeps in other parts of the country.
Organizers nationwide called for a general strike on work, school and shopping on Friday. Many in Montana participated, like I-Ho’s Korean Grill in Bozeman. The restaurant’s owners wrote on Facebook that they’re protesting against abuse of government power.
Other businesses offered alternative services, like Clyde Coffee in Missoula, which stayed open to serve free drinks and cookies. Montago Coffee in Helena committed its total profits from Friday to a legal fund for a Froid resident recently detained on immigration charges.
