Arrests Made A Massive Black Friday Protest

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A total of seven people were arrested Friday at a Missouri mall including a state lawmaker after around 100 protesters disrupted shoppers.

The group of protesters entered the mall around 1:15 p.m. and chanted with their firsts up "No justice, no profit" forcing Galleria Mall to close its doors. The disruptive protesters filed down mall corridors and even entered several department stores including a Dillard's but the protest was shut down within two hours of beginning. Social media posts showed the chaos taking place at the Galleria mall.

<blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-version="7" style=" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:658px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);"><div style="padding:8px;"> <div style=" background:#F8F8F8; line-height:0; margin-top:40px; padding:50.0% 0; text-align:center; width:100%;"> <div style=" background:url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAACwAAAAsCAMAAAApWqozAAAABGdBTUEAALGPC/xhBQAAAAFzUkdCAK7OHOkAAAAMUExURczMzPf399fX1+bm5mzY9AMAAADiSURBVDjLvZXbEsMgCES5/P8/t9FuRVCRmU73JWlzosgSIIZURCjo/ad+EQJJB4Hv8BFt+IDpQoCx1wjOSBFhh2XssxEIYn3ulI/6MNReE07UIWJEv8UEOWDS88LY97kqyTliJKKtuYBbruAyVh5wOHiXmpi5we58Ek028czwyuQdLKPG1Bkb4NnM+VeAnfHqn1k4+GPT6uGQcvu2h2OVuIf/gWUFyy8OWEpdyZSa3aVCqpVoVvzZZ2VTnn2wU8qzVjDDetO90GSy9mVLqtgYSy231MxrY6I2gGqjrTY0L8fxCxfCBbhWrsYYAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); display:block; height:44px; margin:0 auto -44px; position:relative; top:-22px; width:44px;"></div></div> <p style=" margin:8px 0 0 0; padding:0 4px;"> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Bb5FVpiF3PJ/" style=" color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none; word-wrap:break-word;" target="_blank">I came to the Galleria to do some Xmas shopping. Everything stopped for a moment, because people were exercising their right to peacefully assemble and protest. While I was waiting for the police to reopen the stores, and let us resume shopping I witnessed a kid who wasn&#39;t even part of the protest get slammed against a glass wall, and thrown to the ground by multiple officers. I can say from first hand experience today the people were protesting peacefully, and it was the police who antagonized, and facilitated the violence…THEN THIS HAPPENED. #Stlouislife #blackfriday #protests #stlouis #stlouis #314 #stlouisgalleria</a></p> <p style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;">A post shared by @alegendinmyowntime on <time style=" font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px;" datetime="2017-11-24T21:00:58+00:00">Nov 24, 2017 at 1:00pm PST</time></p></div></blockquote> <script async defer src="//platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Protesters leaving Galleria moments before police slammed two down. Total Chaos!!<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Stlprotests?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Stlprotests</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/RMFinalCall?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RMFinalCall</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/stlred05?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@stlred05</a> <a href="https://t.co/EnfsOX0x9v">pic.twitter.com/EnfsOX0x9v</a></p>&mdash; Dr J A Salaam (@drjasalaam) <a href="https://twitter.com/drjasalaam/status/934162636689891336?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 24, 2017</a></blockquote>

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Eyewitnesses to the protest say they were peaceful until the arrests happened. One witness said, "Right at the end of the group, police grabbed people. People ran back to try to help, and the police started throwing them down. It got real ugly."

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Protesters peacefully leaving moments before police slammed two down..<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Stlprotests?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Stlprotests</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/stlred05?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@stlred05</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/RMFinalCall?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RMFinalCall</a> <a href="https://t.co/WgI13FY5hQ">pic.twitter.com/WgI13FY5hQ</a></p>&mdash; Dr J A Salaam (@drjasalaam) <a href="https://twitter.com/drjasalaam/status/934166028644507648?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 24, 2017</a></blockquote>

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Another eyewitness named Chris Phillips says he saw five of the protesters get arrested by police. "It was quite violent. Police officers were pushing people’s faces into the ground and I saw one woman with shopping bags getting tackled, but as far as I saw, nobody was seriously hurt," Phillips recounted.

A boycott of the Galleria Mall and other St. Louis businesses was announced by African-American clergy members and activists. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch says the group was protesting police treatment of blacks, bank load practices and neglect of infrastructure in poor parts of the city.

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Source: http://abcnews.go.com/US/arrested-black-friday-mall-protest-missouri-report/story