Arrested Mall of America protesters to be charged
BLOOMINGTON, Minn. — More than 20 arrests were made at the Black Lives Matter protest held at the Mall of America on Saturday night. Organizers of the protest believe the event was a success, however both Bloomington police officials and the city attorney say that those arrested will face serious consequences.
"The organizers of the event were well aware of the fact that they were not welcome to participate or to hold a protest at the mall today," said Mark Stehlik, Bloomington Police commander.
Hundreds of protesters with the Black Lives Matter organization protested anyway, knowing what they were doing was illegal.
The protesters were warned that the facility is private property.
"They escorted me, they could have arrested me and they just asked me nicely to leave and I did," said Michael McDowell, one of the organizers of Black Lives Matter.
Group organizers say after 30 minutes of protesting in the rotunda, all participants were asked to leave.
"We gave opportunities to leave, we repeated those notifications, every time a notification went out, frankly it got so loud that the crowd drowned them out but we continued to tell people to leave and after a time, most of them began to," Stehlik said.
Bloomington City Attorney Sandra Johnson said the arrested protesters will be prosecuted.
"We will prosecute them to the full extent of the law because they knowingly broke the law because they were involved in a situation that was very potentially dangerous and refused many warnings to leave and they chose to be arrested," said Johnson.
Bloomington police say their main goal during the protest was to provide security and safety to the shoppers, mall staff and protesters as well as their officers. They were glad the protest didn't get out of hand, but said it was a highly disruptive protest.
The rally was a part of protests that have been going on nationwide after white police officers weren't charged in the deaths of unarmed black men in Missouri and New York.
The Mall of America increased security, and certain parts of the mall were closed for some time. Signs were posted at some entrances advising shoppers that the east side of the mall was on lockdown.
Contributing: The Associated Press