Black activists protest in U.S. Midwest seeking justice for black man killed by police

Activists for the U.S. African American civil rights movement -- Black Lives Matter -- on Wednesday held a protest at a shopping mall in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and temporarily blocked traffic to a local airport, demanding justice for a black man killed by police last month.

The protest at the Mall of America, believed to be the nation's biggest shopping mall, was attended by about 100 people Wednesday afternoon on one of the busiest shopping days ahead Christmas holiday, local media reported.

The protest happened after a judge issued a restraining order barring three organizers of the protest from taking part in the rally. But the judge added she did not have the power to block other unidentified protesters from showing up.

The privately-owned mall filed the lawsuit in a bid to bar the protest, fearing it would cause huge loss of revenues at the holiday season. A similar protest was held last December by the Black Lives Matter movement at the same mall to protest the absence of charges following the police killing of unarmed black men in the cities of New York and Ferguson, Missouri.

Wednesday's protest, which forced some stores at the mall to close, was aimed at demanding justice for Jamar Clark, a 24-year-old black man who was fatally shot by Minneapolis police on Nov. 15.

But the protest did not last for long before it was quickly broken up by local police and mall security who ordered the protesters to disperse outside the mall.

The protesters then moved to the nearby Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport to continue their protest, temporarily disrupting the traffic to one of the two terminals.

According to an airport spokesman, arrests were made in association with the protest, over a charge for causing significant traffic disruptions. He declined to disclose the number of the arrests.

The Black Lives Matter is a loosely-organized African American civil rights movement formed in summer 2013, after the acquittal of George Zimmerman, a white security guard who shot dead an unarmed black man named Trayvon Martin in 2012 in the state of Florida.

After a series of fatal shootings of black men by white police officers across the nation in the past two years, the movement has gained increased fame and influence for holding peaceful protests in major U.S. cities to seek justice for African Americans. Endit