Seven people involved in a protest in downtown Kansas City, Mo., on Saturday were arrested as they attempted to block Interstate 70.
The protest was themed #BlackLivesMatter after the viral hashtag, which took off after the decisions not to indict the police officers involved in the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner.
Activist group One Struggle KC was met by Kansas City Police Chief Darryl Forté and at least a dozen police officers on the off-ramp from I-70 to The Paseo.
Protesters were told to move from the ramp and seven were taken away for civil disobedience when they refused to do so. One Struggle co-founder Diane Burkholder said that she was disappointed by the police response to the protest.
“We were told there would be no arrests after we exited the freeway, and there were more arrests," Burkholder said just after several protesters were taken away in police cars. "There hasn’t been consistency from Chief Forté or the police department about what their actions would be.”
The protesters then marched to the Sprint Center as K-State fans lined up to see the team play Texas A&M. Protestors held signs with Michael Brown, Tamir Rice and Eric Garner’s names on them, and chanted, “I can’t breathe,” and “black lives matter,” as they stood among the crowds.
The protest remained peaceful for the rest of the night, and the seven arrested protesters were released from jail just a few hours later, according to One Struggle organizers.
