Protests at mall, airport led to 12 arrests

The group traced a circuitous route around the terminal, forcing the closure of the security checkpoints and preventing travelers from boarding their planes.

The hashtag #BlackxMas2 came about on Twitter as Minneapolis protesters decamped from the mall to the airport.

The exact number of Bloomington police officers working during the protests wasn’t immediately available, but Deputy Chief Denis Otterness said more than 100 officers were out at the time of the protest. One photographer at the airport said he overheard police asking each other whether they should let them into the terminal or keep them out; the decision was to keep them out.

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

Elsewhere Fox 11 reported a total of nine protesters “four women, three men and two boys” were arrested in Inglewood, Calif. Sgt. Paul Peterson of the West Los Angeles California Highway Patrol Office said “They painted names, words and slogans including “Black Lives Matter” on the surface of all five lanes of pavement”, of the protestors on the 405 Freeway.

Three were arrested for trespassing and one was arrested for trespassing and disorderly conduct, the Bloomington Police said.

“It’s a horizontal, leaderless organization, so basically what that means is that we all work together as a team and we all decided what we want to do as a group”, Andrea Schmidt, a nursing student protesting in St. Louis, said.

Protesters left the nation’s largest mall shortly after a rally began Wednesday afternoon, chanting for justice. Although protesters did show up the mall action was a part of a bigger plan.

Dozens of stores were forced to close and police arrested at least 25 people – on one of the busiest shopping days of the year last December. “However, the courts have affirmed our right as private property owners to prohibit demonstrations on our property”, according to the statement.

The protest started at the Mall of America in the Minneapolis area before spilling over to the nearby Minneapolis-St.

The entire protest stemmed from the shooting death of 24-year-old Jamar Clark.

Once mall officials called for the protesters to disperse, hundreds of people filed onto light rail trains. 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 judge agreed to ban three organizers, but said she wouldn’t be able to ban unidentified citizens or the group as a whole from showing up. She declined to say whether she or her fellow organizers still planned to go to the mall, but she said she expected hundreds of protesters to show up – including some prepared to be arrested. Protestors were demanding justice for Mario Woods, a San Francisco man who was shot dead by the police.

Mall management on Tuesday asked a judge to issue a temporary restraining order against the protesters.

Neither mall officials nor Bloomington police said what security measures they put in place to prepare for the protest, though special event staff members were searching bags and stationed at every mall entrance.