An estimated 300 – 400 people gathered at Hamline Park in St. Paul Saturday, August 29 for Black Fair, an event hosted by Black Lives Matter. The march started at Hamline Park and proceeded down Snelling Avenue to the Minnesota State Fairgrounds. The goal of the march was to bring attention to issues of police brutality, as well as Black people being under-represented on the fairgrounds as vendors.
Related content: BLOG | Black Lives Matter goes to the Minnesota State Fair
All photos by Chris Juhn
St. Paul police decided to close Snelling Ave. in advance, and the Minnesota State Fair closed the gates as the demonstrators marched past the state fair. A few people tried to get into the fairgrounds but were quickly stopped by police and even though the demonstrators were stopped, they tried to get in there was no arrests.
The demonstrators marched north on Snelling Avenue and did a “die in” on a bridge. Then they marched where they were greeted with onlookers. Some heckled, others showed support, and one particular group of women showed support by donating a pack of water to the people marching.
Around Como and Packard Street they turned around and proceeded to make their way towards the main gates off of Snelling Avenue and Midway Parkway. The gates were closed and blocked by police.
Demonstrators decided to stay for chants and to demand that the death of Marcus Golden gets looked into as well as police wearing body cameras among other things. After the chants protestors held hands and then left and headed back to Hamline Park. The State Fair re-opened all gates shortly after.
Chris Juhn welcomes reader comments to chrisjuhnphotography@yahoo.com.
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