ST. LOUIS — Arrests were made Sunday morning during a protest outside St. Louis City Hall calling for St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson to resign.
The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department confirmed that arrests were made but did not say how many. At least one protester was armed with an AK-47, police said.
Police cleared the steps of city hall earlier in the morning and placed barricades around the property, which protesters then knocked down. As of 9:30 a.m., 5 On Your Side's Brandon Merano reported the barricades had been put back up and the protest had mostly dispersed.
The “Occupy City Hall STL” group has been gathering on the steps of city hall off and on since Wednesday, calling for the mayor to resign after she read the names and addresses of protesters who supported the defunding of police.
Krewson named the protesters during a Facebook live briefing in June. Krewson apologized and deleted the video, but some have seen it as an intimidation tactic.
Thursday the group threw Krewson a mock “retirement” party, hanging signs and blocking the main entrance to Market Street, and on Friday the words “RESIGN LYDA” were painted onto the street.
Protesters have said they will continue returning to City Hall until Krewson resigns.
5 On Your Side reached out to the mayor’s office for comment, and spokesperson Jacob Long provided the following statement:
"Mayor Krewson isn’t resigning and isn’t going to be distracted from the job she was elected to do: serve more than 300,000 St. Louisans who are currently counting on her administration to navigate multiple public health and economic crises, including a global pandemic. That’s what she’s focused on right now.