St. Paul police arrested 15 men and women on Monday evening during a march and rally to promote a $15 minimum wage, authorities said.

The protesters were arrested at their own request near St. Paul City Hall when they declined to disperse, police spokesman Steve Linders said.

“It was very peaceful,” Linders said. “It was a symbolic arrest, from their point of view … done without incident.”

The arrests occurred at 6:10 p.m. when the protesters said they wouldn’t vacate Wabasha Street and Kellogg Boulevard, and ignored multiple warnings, according to police. They were booked into the local jail on suspicion of participating in an unlawful assembly.

The protest, sponsored in part by the Minnesota Poor Peoples Campaign as part of a national anti-poverty push, began at around 2 p.m. outside a McDonald’s restaurant near University Avenue and Marion Street before moving downtown at about 4 p.m.

St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter arrived at city hall at about 5 p.m. and had one-on-one conversations with protesters, spokeswoman Liz Xiong said. He entered the building a bit later, then came back out for more discussions with the marchers, she added.

Carter said he didn’t want the protesters to be arrested, but he wasn’t “going to try convincing them otherwise, and it was clear he couldn’t,” Xiong said.

Carter’s office and the St. Paul City Council recently scheduled four community discussions on a possible increase to the citywide minimum wage.

“Raising the minimum wage is a big change for St. Paul,” Carter said, in a written statement, at the time. “Engaging community voices at every step in this process is critical to developing a set of recommendations that best serve our city.”

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“All working Minnesotans deserve a living wage. But with our minimum wage stuck far below the cost of living, thousands of Minnesotans are working full time and still fighting to make ends meet. That’s why Saint Paul workers are organizing to raise the minimum wage to $15.”

The Minnesota Poor Peoples Campaign said it has partnered with 15Now, Hmong Americans for Justice, CTUL, Our Minnesota Future and Restaurant Opportunities Center in this minimum-wage campaign.