Charge us, too.

That’s what a growing list of clergy is telling Bloomington City Attorney Sandra Johnson and Mall of America administrators. Johnson says she expect to charge organizers of a Black Lives Matter protest at the Mall on one of the busiest shopping days of the year.

The clergy are upset that the city would single out three or four organizers when so many people participated. They are also upset that mall administrators assumed that the peaceful protest could turn violent and brought in a large security and police presence, something the mall did not do for a cancer memorial event that drew about 7,000 people.

“We were shocked and dismayed to see that the Mall of America did not believe the peaceful intentions of the peaceful gathering. We were stunned to see police in riot gear and extra law enforcement including state troopers present,” said the letter.

“In early December, over 7000 people filled the same Rotunda in memory of one who died too soon to cancer, to raise awareness and money for cancer research. Apparently there was no strong police presence, they were not met with police in riot gear, and no extra law enforcement officials (were) called in. We, too, gathered to remember untimely deaths of unarmed black men and boys and to raise awareness of police brutality.

“For reasons that are unclear to us, the Mall chose to respond to this second gathering in a completely different fashion, apparently presuming the worst of those who attended.”

Mall officials and Bloomington police had approached the event organizers several days in advance, asking them not to hold the event in the mall because it was private property and offering a nearby parking lot as an alternative.

The protest was part of a larger nationwide protest against police violence against black men.

When the protest began on Saturday, officers locked down about 80 stores and several mall entrances. Business at stores near the rotunda (where the protest was held) came to a halt for about two hours.

Bloomington City Attorney Johnson said she is waiting for estimates, but the cost of overtime put in by police and the revenue lost by stores could be “staggering,” and she wants the protest organizers to pay.

Full text of the letter