Black activists protest in US Midwest

Organizers now say the Mall action was a decoy, masking the intention to do the airport protest.

Stores closed their gates, kiosks were covered, and several signs that read that protests were not allowed could be seen across the mall property. She said she believes it was effective. 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.

Hogan says the 45-minute closure of security lines would likely cause delays for Sun Country and Southwest airlines as passengers go through screening. Officers arrested 13 protesters involved in the demonstration.

Airport spokesman Patrick Hogan says the arrests came Wednesday, after people protesting at the Mall of America headed to one of the airport’s two terminals.

Five people were arrested on various charges, including trespassing, disorderly conduct and an unrelated outstanding arrest warrant, said Denis Otterness, deputy chief of the Bloomington, Minn., Police Department, according to CNN.

Organizers hope the Christmas Eve demonstration will be a repeat of another Chicago protest when hundreds of people disrupted shopping on Michigan Avenue on Black Friday, Fox News reported.

The protesters migrated from the mall to the Minneapolis- St. Paul International Airport, where they blocked roads and terminal entrances.

Dayton also questioned the need for this kind of demonstration. A judge banned three demonstration organizers from going to the mall, but said she couldn’t bar other unnamed protesters from attending.

Video posted on Twitter showed the demonstrators chanting “if we don t get no justice then they don t get no peace”, as snow fell on the road to the terminals.

Gov. Mark Dayton said the moving protest created a “very, very risky situation”.

The mall’s attempt this week to get a judge to shut down the protest failed, in part.

One of the organizers of the protest, Kandace Montgomery, told the Associated Press that the protest is meant to disturb commerce during the busy Christmas season.

The mall opened at 8 a.m. Wednesday, and the protest is planned for 1:30 p.m.

After a series of fatal shootings of black men by white police officers across the nation in the past two years, the movement has gained increased fame and influence for holding peaceful protests in major USA cities to seek justice for African Americans.

Bloomington police have not said what security measures the mall may put in place to curtail the protest.