US Black Lives Matter protests disrupt airports and shopping
The
demonstrators in Minnesota temporarily closed the international airport
and interrupted Christmas shopping at the Mall of America.
Police said a total of 15 people were arrested at both places, mostly for trespassing or obstructing justice.
Protesters are angry over a police shooting of a black man in Minneapolis.
Jamar
Clark was shot dead last month by officers responding to an assault
complaint, in one of a number of recent incidents around the US.
Hundreds
of people took part in the protest at the mall, one of the largest in
North America, where Black Lives Matter organisers promised to
congregate in defiance of a judge's warning that the shopping centre's
owners could legally block the demonstration.
Police and mall security staff were speedily
deployed against the protesters, warning that any who did not depart
immediately would be arrested. For a while the area surrounding the mall
was on lockdown, but most stores were only closed for about an hour.
At one point police described the situation as "very, very dangerous".
The San Francisco Chronicle
separately reported that eight protesters blocking southbound traffic
on the 101 freeway near the California city's international airport were
arrested on Wednesday.
Pictures of the demonstrators on social
media showed them holding a sign demanding justice for Mario Woods, a
black man shot dead by police who is suspected of a San Francisco
stabbing.
Black Lives Matter is a loosely organised movement which
was formed following protests over police killings of black men in
Ferguson, Missouri, New York and other cities.
Police use of force against African Americans has been an ongoing issue.
Protests have been held nationwide for more than a year after a series of incidents, some of them fatal.
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