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Black Friday in Ferguson and US

November 29, 2014

US cities have seen scattered protests on the country’s biggest shopping day of the year. Not all activities were so political, however, on the annual American retail holiday known as Black Friday.

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USA Thanksgiving: Black Friday Protest
Image: Reuters/A. Kelly

About 100 people protested in a St. Louis mall Friday, days after a Missouri grand jury decided not to prosecute the white police officer Darren Wilson for killing the unarmed black teenager Michael Brown in August. Demonstrators shouted "No justice, no peace," and "Stop shopping and join the movement" at the St. Louis Galleria Mall on Friday.

Shoppers and store staff looked on bemused, while others filmed or photographed the protest or clapped and shouted their support. The management office confirmed that the shopping center had reopened at 3:15 p.m. (2115 UTC), about two hours after police had closed the building.

Consumerism proved an attractive target as well on a day also known as Buy Nothing Day. Labor organizers picketed Wal-Mart stores across the country on Friday, demanding a minimum wage of $15 (12 euros) per hour, according to the workers organization OUR Walmart, which uses an alternative spelling of the megastore's name.

Police arrested several protesters at the Macy's store in New York (pictured). In the San Francisco Bay area, protesters severely disrupted the BART mass transit system for more than two hours by blocking off a train station in Oakland, officials said.

'Keep calm'

As the sun set across the United States, dimmer-than-average Black Friday sales looked unlikely to eclipse any retail records, yet millions of Americans did spend the day shopping rather than protesting. Many retailers opened Thursday this year, as early as 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving, when families would traditionally be sitting down to dinner. In scenes of crowds and chaos that have become a holiday ritual starting Thursday evening, "Black Friday" shoppers across the country queued for hours outside department stores in sometimes frigid weather, then shoved, wrestled and grabbed to get discounted electronics, clothes, toys and games.

Colorado proved mellower as marijuana vendors joined the seasonal buzz. "Green Friday" deals at Denver's Grass Station included an ounce of marijuana for $50, about $200 less than the normal price.

USA Thanksgiving: Black Friday in Newport
Despite protests across the country, more than 100 million Americans went shoppingImage: Reuters/E. Munoz

The Black Friday trend has even spread abroad. Police were deployed to supermarkets and department stores across Britain on Friday, for example, as bargain hunters battled one another to reach cashiers.

Manchester police made three arrests and tweeted "Keep calm people!" when a falling television hit a woman on the head less than 30 minutes after a Tesco store opened its doors at midnight Friday.

mkg/lw (Reuters, AFP, dpa, AP)