Minneapolis Madness.

"The mall was a decoy," said Black Lives Matter organizer Miski Noor, who protested at the airport. "I think it was really effective."

The protesters had  been promising to again shut down the Mall of America, which is a brief light-rail ride away from the airport -- both in Bloomington, technically.

The police officers were stationed at the Mall, enough people there demonstrated for storekeepers to close their doors as the protesters slowly filed out..

ON one of the busiest traffic days, the dummies shut down a terminal and snarled traffic leading to the airport.  To what effect, I wonder?

Multiple law enforcement agencies showed up in full force, ushering protesters off roadways to and from the airport terminals, patrolling light-rail stations and shutting down security checkpoints at Terminal 2 (Humphrey) in case protesters tried to access the secure area on the day before Christmas Eve. There were more than 100 officers at the Mall of America alone, mostly from the Bloomington Police Department.

"We accomplished exactly what we came here to accomplish -- we wanted to shut down the highway, shut down the airport and show solidarity with other Black Lives Matter groups," said Michelle Barnes of Minneapolis, one of the protest organizers.

In personal news, one of the 3 others I was working with today is a Hmong attorney, who left a few hours early as she was flying out tonight with her husband and two sons to Montreal, to visit his family.  I hope they made it out ok, and were not inconvenienced any more than necessary.

These protesters really are aiming at the wrong targets here and missing their marks badly, even when they seem effective in their evasion techniques and tricking the authorities.

What good can come of this, I wonder?

At the airport, some travelers may have missed flights due to the closed roads and extra traffic congestion. Samantha Herman, 16, of Madison, S.D., was hurrying to catch a flight to Detroit to visit her father for Christmas, but she said she was worried she would miss the flight even though it was delayed an hour.

"We waited for an hour just to get into the stupid airport," she said, adding that there was no other flight Wednesday to replace hers if she missed it.

...
The airport shut down security checkpoints at Terminal 2 for about 45 minutes, also preventing passengers from getting through.

Other protesters arrived at Terminal 1, stopping traffic and joining hands as they chanted, "Black lives, they matter here." The Hwy. 5 entrance to Terminal 1 was shut down for a short time before police arrested some protesters and dispersed the crowd. There were a couple of flights that were delayed out of the airport because of the protest, said Patrick Hogan, airport spokesman.

Protesters also shut down light-rail service to other stations by standing on the tracks, forcing Metro Transit to send buses to transfer commuters as evening rush hour traffic began.

In a statement, Black Lives Matter said the demonstration at the airport was to protest Islamophobia and anti-black racism, including discriminatory profiling practices against black people and anyone who is perceived to be Muslim.

 ...

In a statement, Black Lives Matter said the mall protest was a "decoy action," a planned diversion while they shut down the two airport terminals and light rail.

"We raised the bar," said Pastor Danny Givens of Above Every Name Church in St. Paul after protesting outside Terminal 1. "We let the nation and the world know that black lives matter."