Police Arrest Protesters at Minnesota Governor's Mansion

Police arrested several protesters who had been camping out in front of the Minnesota Governor’s Mansion in St Paul on Tuesday, July 26. The protesters had been in front of the mansion since the police-involved fatal shooting of Philando Castile in Falcon Heights earlier this month. Police said they had arrested more than 20 people by early afternoon.

Police ordered protesters to stop blocking the street and the sidewalk and were able to re-open the street for a time, according to a local report. Protesters, though, converged back on the street, causing it to be closed again. Most protesters complied with the police’s orders, the report said. A department spokesman also said in the report that protesters were allowed to congregate on the sidewalk so long as they did not obstruct the street, bicycle lane or sidewalk.

Castile was stopped in his car by a St Anthony police officer in Falcon Heights on July 6. St Anthony’s police cover the community of Falcon Heights. During the traffic stop, Castile was shot by the officer, and his girlfriend sitting in the car broadcast the aftermath on Facebook. It was one of two fatal police-involved shootings in two days that triggered national protests.

This video shows police arresting a protester and leading a child in a Black Lives Matter shirt away from the scene. Credit: Instagram/Cameron Kinghorn