A network of labor unions, far-left organizations and clergy had urged Minnesotans to stay away from work, school and even shops Friday to protest the efforts of the federal government to arrest and deport violent illegal aliens living in the Minneapolis and St. Paul areas.
“Roughly 100 clergy” were arrested, according to Trevor Cochlin of Faith in Minnesota, one of the groups organizing the protest at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. They were protesting the involvement of Delta Airlines in the deportation of immigrants.
Metropolitan Airports Commission spokesman Jeff Lea said the protesters were arrested outside the main terminal when they went beyond the stipulations of their permit for demonstrating and disrupted airline operations. Authorities have not said how many people were detained at the airport.
Organizers said Friday morning that more than 700 businesses statewide have closed in solidarity with the protest, from a bookstore in tiny Grand Marais near the Canadian border to the landmark Guthrie Theater in downtown Minneapolis.
