What began as a large protest at the Mall of America , ended up taking action on the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport in, blocking traffic and delaying flights.
Police dispersed Black Lives Matter activists at America’s biggest shopping center after hundreds showed up at Mall of America, defying a restraining order. Protests then moved to the MSP International airport.
The group wrote on its Facebook page that the protest at the mall – having one of the busiest shopping days of the year- was held to raise awareness to the fact occurred last month, where police shot dead Jamar Clark, a black man from Minneapolis.
Images of the shopping center in the social media showed how officers used strong horns to notify that the event was unauthorized, sending people to leave of there in case of not wanting to be arrested. There are no official numbers of arrests or any damage occurred during the protest
Some protesters took a light-rail train to the airport after the police dispersed the protest at the mall, where airport officials explained that the access to one of the two terminals was blocked, which caused traffic in the nearby roads.
Local activists also brought hundreds to a demonstration at the mall last December during the fallout over decisions not to charge any officers in the police killings of unarmed black men in New York City and Ferguson, Mo.
Mall of America executives tried to block Wednesday’s Black Lives Matter protest with a court order, but a judge ruled that she didn’t have the power to ban it as they were not a legally recognized entity. However, the judge did arrested three organizers – Michael McDowell, Miski Noor, and Kandace Montgomery – from attending.
“We are a leader-full organization,” adding “Just barring three of us does not mean that you’ve stopped our work,” Kandace Montgomery told the Associated Press.
Montgomery predicted as many as 700 people would still show up for the rally Wednesday and said the event would help pressure officials to release video of the shooting of Clark.
Source: ABC News