State Fair police are in charge of dealing with anyone from the group who tries to get in to the Fair. “We will work that plan, we’re not going to get into the details of that plan”.
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Ball-Bey’s family disputes this account saying, he was not inside the house when St. Louis city police executed a search warrant on August. 19.
The killing of several unarmed black men by white police officers in recent months and decisions by grand juries not to indict the officers has triggered large-scale protests across the US.
“There’s a cliche that Minnesota is nice to everyone, but that’s not the case for people of color”, said 51-year-old marcher Tim, who did not want to give his last name because event organizers said they had received death threats.
The protesters closed down streets and highways on their way to the fair. The black lives that were taken in the church in Charleston matter. “They don’t have a goal”.
St. Paul police put on extra staff for the march, which grew louder as it neared the entrance of the fair, which attracts up to 1.8 million visitors over its 12-day run each summer. Once it reached the Snelling overpass of Energy Park Drive, marchers lay down in a four-minute “die-in” to call to mind minorities who have been killed by police. Before the march began, organizers reminded the participants that they sought nonviolent activism and encouraged them not to engage with hecklers.
St. Paul Police Chief Tom Smith says his department has open lines of communications with the protesters.
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According to the State Fair’s twitter feed, Snelling was temporarily closed to traffic moving northbound just after 2 p.m., as protesters left the fair’s front gates. Other than that, the most common complaint he fielded was about the noise from television news helicopters. All of the State Fair gates were locked while many fairgoers watched the march from inside the fair. “Other than that some damaged flower boxes”. “The only thing that holds up in court is that everybody be treated the same”.
