Bloomington urged not to file Mall of America demonstration charges

Pioneer Press ^ | 1-6-15 | AP

[TurboZamboni]

Supporters of a large demonstration at the Mall of America last month are urging the City of Bloomington not to pursue charges for disrupting retailers and shoppers.

Several people at the Bloomington City Council meeting Monday night asked prosecutors to reconsider. More than two dozen people were arrested after the Dec. 20 demonstration organized by the group "Black Lives Matter."

It was part of a nationwide wave of protests following incidents in Missouri and New York in which unarmed black men were killed by police.

City Attorney Sandra Johnson says she plans to file charges against protest organizers for unlawful assembly or aiding a public nuisance. She also plans to seek restitution for additional security costs incurred by the mall.

[From The Deer Stand]

Black lives apparently don’t matter in the abortion clinics or the streets of Chicago as they don’t protest those deaths.

[Flick Lives]

#BigScreenTVsMatter

[kidd]

I grew up in Bloomington.

It has become a divided suburb. The east side, which has the Mall, is very liberal. Has become a center for muslims, drug gangs and union-supporters. The west side is mostly GOPe.

I wouldn’t expect much right-wing activism to counter this.

[JimRed]

If black lives really matter, they should be burning abortion clinics, not liquor stores and markets.

[TurboZamboni]

Consequences are for other people.

[grania]

With the initial protests in Cleveland, there were no arrests while the protestors blocked major commuter highways, city streets, and access to public places. Two months later, a few hundred youths from Cleveland think it's okay to start fights at the primary movie theater complex just outside the city.

I have no idea what's achieved by people breaking the law not having consequences. It can only get worse when there's a precedent. of no arrests and no consequences. What the agitators want, obviously, is more Fergusons. The "why" is their being allowed to rile things up.

[definitelynotaliberal]

The protesters were mostly pallid, sanctimonious Americans of primarily Scandinavian extraction.

[MrB]

I hear the next protest is going to be by a bunch of chickens defending the honor of Col Sanders.

[TurboZamboni]

The protesters were mostly pallid, sanctimonious Americans of primarily Scandinavian extraction.

In other words,Macalester students.

[T-Bone Texan]

What folks dont realize is that fear of the police and jail is oftentimes the only thing keeping them from going full tribal and raping and murdering everyone in sight.

If you take away that fear, there is absolutely nothing left to scare them into law-abidingness.

Thus, civilization is lost now. We gave it up.