Police brutality protesters rally at Mall of America

Demonstrators filled the Mall of America rotunda and chanted “Black lives matter” to protest police brutality, Saturday, Dec. 12, 2014, in Bloomington, Minn. The group Black Lives Matter Minneapolis had more than 3,000 people confirm on Facebook that they would attend. Attendance figures weren’t immediately available.(AP Photo/The Star Tribune, Aaron Lavinsky)

By Associated Press

POSTED: 12/20/14, 3:25 PM PST |

1 COMMENT

Protestor Janerio Taylor, 33, holds a sign at the Mall of America Saturday, Dec. 20, 2014, in Bloomington, Minn. The group Black Lives Matter Minneapolis had more than 3,000 people confirm on Facebook that they would attend. Attendance figures weren’t immediately available.(AP Photo/The Star Tribune, Aaron Lavinsky)

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (AP) — A mass of demonstrators chanting, “Black lives matter,” converged in the Mall of America rotunda as part of a police brutality protest that caused at least part of the mall to shut down on a busy shopping day.

The group Black Lives Matter Minneapolis had more than 3,000 people confirm on Facebook that they’d attend. Official attendance figures weren’t immediately available, but organizer Mica Grimm says she believes about 3,000 took part.

Grimm says she knows at least five people were arrested.

She calls the protest a success. The goal was to raise awareness about police brutality and racial profiling issues. And she says nobody can ignore what happened Saturday.

The mall warned protesters not to demonstrate on private property. Parts of the mall were locked down during the rally.