(Photo: J.B. Forbes, AP)
One of the St. Louis area’s most popular shopping malls was closed for more than an hour on Black Friday when people protesting the grand jury decision in the Michael Brown case marched into the Galleria and lay down on the third floor.
More than 100 protesters marched through the busy mall, chanting “black lives matter” and “stop don’t shoot” and urging shoppers to skip shopping to show solidarity with their cause. Protesters also had converged briefly on the mall Wednesday and left without incident.
Police were on hand Friday in expectation of the protesters. Shoppers were asked to leave after the protesters lay down.
“I thought they were very peaceful,” said Sarah Jeffords-Haas, who walked around the protesters on the floor of the mall.
“This is no longer a protest, it’s an uprising,” said Kymone Freeman, who wore a plastic pig snout while he led the protesters through the mall.
Source: USA Today | Aamer Madhani
