x
Breaking News
More () »

Protesters march through suburban St. Louis mall

Demonstrators marched through West County Mall Saturday afternoon chanting the familiar phrases "Black live matter!" "No justice, no peace!" and "Shut it down!" Officers could be seen on a Facebook Live video watching protesters peacefully demonstrate.
Police monitor protests inside West County Mall.

Demonstrators marched through West County Mall Saturday afternoon chanting the familiar phrases “Black live matter!" "No justice, no peace!" and "Shut it down!" Officers could be seen on a Facebook Live video watching protesters peacefully demonstrate.

Some stores shut their doors so protesters couldn't enter, including Macy's.

Macy's in West County closed its doors Saturday as protesters marched through the mall.

WATCH: Live stream of mall protest

Before heading to the mall, they organized in Heman Park Saturday morning, a public park in University City, to discuss next steps. Several of them asked media to leave because they were holding a “private meeting.”

5 On Your Side and other media outlets backed up. A few minutes later several people from the group walked over to talk to news crews.

RELATED | Businesses damaged, 11 officers hurt in protests

MORE | U2 cancels St. Louis show

“Effectively, we have to talk to our people. And let our people know first. We can’t give you the broadcast, and our people don’t know anything,” one protestor told news crews.

Another demonstrator walked over to news crews, who said his name is Amir Bradley.

“Economically, we’ve been excluded,” said Bradley. “There’s only two things this system understands: money and eye-for-an-eye, tooth-for-a-tooth. The second, we’re not engaged in, so we have to affect this system economically. Today, we are going to shut down a mall.”

Bradley didn’t initially say which mall they were going to visit.

The demonstrations follow a night of protests, which at times turned violent. Eleven officers were injured, a number of businesses were vandalized, and 32 people were arrested.

Before You Leave, Check This Out