Protest organizer says mall was ‘decoy’

Gaertner repeatedly stressed at Monday’s hearing that the mall’s opposition to the Black Lives Matter protest is not about their message, but the venue and the protest’s potential for disrupting last-minute holiday shopping. The protesters gathered at the shopping center, the largest of its kind in the country, and chanted, “What do we want?”

Nine people were arrested in Los Angeles after shutting down a busy highway and using chalk to write “Black Lives Matter” on the ground.

The airport protest occurred soon after protesters were ordered to leave the nearby Mall of America.

Protesters in Chicago plan to block shoppers from the city’s renowned Magnificent Mile Thursday to protest police brutality, one day after demonstrators in Minnesota stormed the Mall of America and blocked terminals in the Minneapolis airport.

That didn’t deter Art Seratoff, a 67-year-old protester from Minneapolis.

They have been trying to draw attention to the shooting death earlier this year of a black man by Minneapolis police officers, an incident that remains under state and federal investigation.

The protest happened after a judge issued a restraining order barring three organizers of the protest from taking part in the rally.

The protesters left the mall Wednesday afternoon and were walking toward a light-rail train station outside the massive suburban Minneapolis mall. Video taken from spectators and protesters show an influx of people of many races and backgrounds filling the rotunda, advocating for the release of police footage from the shooting of Jamar Clark.

This is the second protest to be held by the group at the Mall of America.

Officials said access to one of two terminals was closed when more than 100 protesters gathered inside and blocked roads leading to the airport. Paul International Airport on Wednesday after staging a rally that briefly shut down part of the nation’s largest mall.

“Mall of America has a longstanding policy banning political demonstrations and protests on our private property”, the mall said. Activists claim he was handcuffed when he was shot, an assertion denied by police officials. A judge barred three organizers from attending the demonstration but said she doesn’t have the power to prevent others from showing up to demonstrate. “That policy is in place to protect the safety of all Mall of America guests, employees and tenants”, the mall said in a statement.

Once they arrived, the group split up, blocking both terminals in the middle of the day.

Protesters also shut down light-rail service to other stations by standing on the tracks, forcing Metro Transit to send buses to transfer commuters as evening rush hour traffic began.

Neither the mall nor Bloomington police have said how they will respond to the demonstration. There were a couple of flights that were delayed out of the airport because of the protest, said Patrick Hogan, airport spokesman.