Protesters gather at America's biggest shopping mall

WASHINGTON DC - Hundreds of demonstrators filed into America's largest shopping mall Saturday as part of an ongoing wave of protests against racially charged police violence, interrupting one of the holidays' busiest shopping days.

Protesters gathered at the Mall of America, in Bloomington in the Midwestern state of Minnesota, and held up signs with slogans such as "Black Lives Matter," which has become a rallying cry for nationwide demonstrations against police.

Photos posted on Twitter showed dozens of demonstrators -- including several shopkeepers -- placing their hands in the air. The gesture is a tribute to Michael Brown, a black teen killed by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri.

Some witnesses claim Brown had his hands in the air when he was shot on August 9. His death and the subsequent grand jury decision not to charge the officer involved touched off weeks of nationwide protests over what demonstrators say is the police's disproportionate use of deadly force against African Americans.

According to the Mall of America protest's Facebook page, more than 3,000 people said they would attend the demonstration. Photos posted on social media showed throngs of people gathered across several levels of the sprawling shopping center, with more outside.

Police and mall security were quick to respond, but there were no immediate reports of arrests, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune newspaper.

Several protesters tweeted an image of a mall information screen warning people they faced arrest.

"This demonstration is in clear violation of mall of America policy," the warning read. "Those who continue to demonstrate are subject to arrest."

Most protesters appeared to have dispersed by mid-afternoon.

The grand jury decision last month not to indict police officer Darren Wilson over Brown's death was followed by a similar grand jury verdict that declined to charge another white policeman in the "chokehold" death in Staten Island of Eric Garner, a black father of six.

These and other deaths, including that of 12-year-old Tamir Rice -- shot dead by Cleveland police as he brandished a toy gun -- have unleashed simmering resentment of police tactics in the United States and highlighted uneasy relations between black men and law enforcement officials.

The Mall of America sees some 40 million visitors annually and is an important tourist draw for Minnesota, according to the mall's website.

It would take a shopper 86 hours to visit all the shops in the mall if they spent 10 minutes in each shop.

source: interaksyon.com

Ferguson police come under gunfire, arrest 31 in racial unrest

FERGUSON - U.S. police said early on Tuesday they came under heavy gunfire and arrested 31 people during another night of racially charged protests in Ferguson, Missouri, sparked by the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager by a white policeman 10 days ago.

Demonstrations, mostly peaceful but with spasms of violence by smaller groups, have flared since Michael Brown, 18, was shot dead while walking down a residential street on August 9.

State Highway Patrol Captain Ron Johnson, briefing reporters on Monday's night's violence, said "our officers came under heavy gunfire" in one area.

"Not a single bullet was fired by officers despite coming under heavy attack," he told a news conference. Riot police had confiscated two guns from protesters and what looked like a petrol bomb. Four officers had been injured.

Johnson separately told CNN that two people were shot within the crowd, but not by police, and were taken to hospital. There was no immediate word on their condition.

The violence has captured headlines around the world, raising questions about the state of U.S. race relations nearly six years after Americans elected their first black president.

"This has to stop. I don't want anybody to get hurt. We have to find a way to stop this," said Johnson, an African-American who grew up in the area and who took over security efforts after the mostly white local force was accused of using excessive force against blacks.

An overnight curfew has been imposed and the National Guard, the U.S. state militia, has been deployed in the St. Louis suburb of 21,000 people to stop looting and burning that have punctuated the protests.

President Barack Obama and civil rights leaders have appealed for calm while a federal investigation into the shooting proceeds.

"While I understand the passions and the anger that arise over the death of Michael Brown, giving in to that anger by looting or carrying guns, and even attacking the police, only serves to raise tensions and stir chaos," Obama told a news conference on Monday (Tuesday in the Philippines).

source: interaksyon.com