Businessweek: Is it Legal to Crack Down on #BlackLivesMatter Protest Leaders?

[LiberalElite]

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-12-26/minnesota-prosecutor-goes-after-black-lives-matter-protest-organizers?google_editors_picks=true

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On Saturday, Dec. 20, Minnesota’s Mall of America was partially shut down for hours as at least 1,500 people converged inside for a Black Lives Matter protest. No violence or property damage was reported, according to Minnesota Public Radio (MPR). Twenty-five people were arrested, cited, and released. But Bloomington City Attorney Sandra Johnson, citing the overtime incurred by police and the revenue lost by shuttered shops, says the organizers of the protests should pay a higher price.
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[Kalidurga]

1. This is complete bullshit

There was no need to shut anything down. If the cast if Twilight came to the MOA they would have at least that many screaming tweeny boppers show up at the mall. Only they would be white and mostly girls, so I guess not scary. And I don't think it's legal to target the leaders.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

2. So do an 'unshop-in'.

Get to the mall early, suck up all the parking, and just spend the day wandering around the mall without buying anything. Most people aren't going to want to go shopping if they have to park in BFE and spend 20 minutes walking to the mall and 20 minutes back. Don't actually 'protest', just gum up the works of capitalism.

[daredtowork]

3. I'm confused

Besides the mall being a public space until the store property owners deciding post-facto it isn't, didn't the POLICE decide to shut down the mall? The businesses could have stayed open. Protesters wanted people to view the protest. It was the effort to prevent the public from seeing the protest which caused the loss of business dollars. In theory the spectacle could have attracted business.

[4139]

4. Not public space, malls are private property

[gollygee]

5. They are private property and public space

Open to the public, but owned privately.

[Downwinder]

6. What is their tax status?

Do they get a public subsidy(reduction of taxes)?

[gollygee]

7. Many shopping malls have had a huge number of tax breaks

but that isn't what makes them public spaces. Public spaces are spaces made open to the public and where you can't disciminate against protected classes of people.

[Downwinder]

8. With all of the publicly supported sports venues

they are going to open a kettle of worms. It will be an interesting debate.