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Minneapolis cops walk off job at WNBA game after Lynx players speak out against violence: https://t.co/47uRxBLsYW pic.twitter.com/FrQp5J6RQA — Deadspin (@Deadspin) July 12, 2016

Members of the Minnesota Lynx staged a protest Saturday before their game against the Dallas Wings when they wore shirts reading "Change starts with us, justice and accountability" as well as "Black Lives Matter." It was a response to a recent spate of officer-involved shootings of black men, including Philando Castile, who was killed at a traffic stop not far from the Lynx arena in Minneapolis. Forward Rebekkah Brunson said before the game that the players wanted to "honor and mourn the loss of precious American citizens and to plead change for all of us. 2014 league MVP Maya Moore added, "We are highlighting a longtime problem of racial profiling."

While athletes entering the political arena will always get some people up in arms, this would seem a relatively modest protest. The players also spoke out against the killings of police officers in Dallas on Thursday night, Sports Illustrated reports. That didn't stop Minneapolis cops working the game from staging a counter-protest of their own, however, as four officers walked out of the arena to demonstrate their disagreement with the players' message.

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Minneapolis officers working Lynx game walked out over player comments, warm-up jerseys. https://t.co/iDGItvAOkj pic.twitter.com/iqybvw9oR4 — Star Tribune (@StarTribune) July 12, 2016

"I commend them for it," said Bob Kroll, president of the Minneapolis Police Federation, a union. "Others said they heard about it and they were not going to work Lynx games." He added: "If [the players] are going to keep their stance, all officers may refuse to work there."

The police were off-duty at the time, working as independent contracts. They were free to walk out at any time, particularly because the arena still retains private security. The question is whether it was the demands of the event—or lack thereof—that encouraged them to do so.

After all, LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, and a group of New Jersey Nets players wore shirts with the slogan "I Can't Breathe" during pre-game warmups in 2014 to commemorate the death of Eric Garner at the hands of the NYPD. That statement went forward largely without incident.

[H/T:Minneapolis Star-Tribune

Jack Holmes Politics Editor Jack Holmes is the Politics Editor at Esquire, where he writes daily and edits the Politics Blog with Charles P Pierce.

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