More than 100 people were arrested and 21 officers were injured after protesters brought I-94 to a screeching halt for more than five hours Saturday night.
Authorities say during the course of the protests on 94 and later, on Grand and Dale, 21 officers from multiple agencies suffered injuries. The injuries were primarily caused by fireworks, rocks, bricks, glass bottles and chunks of concrete that were directed at officers, some hitting them in the head. St. Paul Police said someone threw a Molotov cocktail at officers, as well.
On Sunday evening, St. Paul (MN) Police learned one of the officers injured last night had a large concrete block dropped on his head. That officer is now suffering from a spinal fracture.
In total, more than 100 people were arrested — 52 were taken into custody for public nuisance and unlawful assembly during an incident around 4 a.m. at Grand and Dale in St. Paul and 50 were arrested for third-degree riot overnight on I-94. At least eight of the 50 people arrested by the State Patrol were from outside of Minnesota.
Police in riot gear warned the crowd several times that arrests would be made if they didn’t clear the scene, and after tactics like inert smoke, tear gas and marking rounds failed to disperse the crowd, arrests began.
Those arrested were loaded onto buses and removed from the scene.
Interstate 94 was finally reopened around 1:49 a.m., after authorities removed debris from the highway.