Protest organizer says mall demonstration was ‘decoy’

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Black Lives Matter activist says the Mall of America was used as “a decoy” to start a protest that quickly moved to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

Hoping to draw attention to a recent police shooting of a black man in Minneapolis, hundreds of protesters briefly gathered inside the nation’s largest shopping mall before abruptly walking out.

Some protesters then went to a nearby light-rail train station to head to the airport, where demonstrators temporarily blocked access to a terminal.

Miski Noor, a protest organizer, says “the mall was a decoy.” She said she believes it was effective.

Officials say traffic at the airport was back to normal by Wednesday evening, and that about 80 stores at the mall were closed for about an hour as officers escorted remaining protesters off the property.

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