Hundreds of demonstrators blocked traffic on a Minneapolis highway late Wednesday and broke out into a dance party as police arrested the protesters one by one.
A large group of people walked out onto Interstate 94 going eastbound shortly before 8 p.m. CT, prompting traffic to back up for several miles. Police officers tailed the group by about 150 feet and eventually barricaded the group on both sides in an effort to arrest everyone. Some in the group attempted to scale fences next to the highway in an effort to avoid arrest.
Police shut down traffic going westbound and asked the group to sit down so that it could begin taking each person into custody.
State Patrol slowly beginning to arrest people in the back of the protest for unlawful assembly on I-94. They’ve been ordering people to sit down. Some in the front remain standing in protest. @WCCO pic.twitter.com/CzofmhUgaF
— Jeff Wagner (@Jeff_Wagner4) November 5, 2020
“Troopers continue to arrest protestors on I-94 at Riverside Avenue. Walking on the freeway is illegal and very dangerous for pedestrians and motorists. We respect the right of everyone to express themselves under the First Amendment, but the freeway is not a place to do that,” Minneapolis State Patrol wrote on Twitter late Wednesday.
By 11 p.m., 200 demonstrators were still waiting to be arrested. Some people defied the order to sit and began dancing the Electric Slide.
Music has started and a small dance party has followed among those waiting to be arrested. @WCCO pic.twitter.com/5Q0USU6sMb
— Jeff Wagner (@Jeff_Wagner4) November 5, 2020
The protest was organized by the Twin Cities Coalition. The group said earlier this week that it planned to protest regardless of whether President Trump or Democratic nominee Joe Biden won the election, but it preferred a Democratic victory.
