'Black Lives Matter' protesters crowd The Summit entrance

Despite a news release that the protest had been cancelled, around hundred protestors gathered at The Summit entrance Friday afternoon. A Facebook group called “Black Lives Matter – Birmingham” planned the demonstration at both The Summit and the Riverchase Galleria as part of a nationwide response to the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner.

Around 3 p.m., protestors dressed in all black and carrying signs begin to gather at The Summit's main entrance on U.S. 280. Several people used megaphones to lead the crowd in chantings and protestors held up signs that read, "We can't breathe," "This stops today," and "Hands up, don't shoot." Several individuals held up a large banner that read, "Black Lives Matter."

Not long after the protests began at 3 p.m., a protestor laid down in the roadway entering The Summit holding a sign with the phrase, "I am a man." Police approached him and after several minutes, he stood up and moved out of the roadway. 

Police officials set up a command center in the lower Summit parking lot prior to the demonstration and assisted in directing motorists entering The Summit throughout the afternoon.

Several members of the Birmingham Peace Project, an antiwar action group which educates for peace and social justice, were present for the protest.

 "A lot of our members are here to express solidarity," said Birmingham Peace Project Chair Diane McNaron. "We want to send a message to Birmingham. We have a very diverse group here. People should not get murdered for minor crimes or for no crimes. This has to stop right here, right now."

This is not the first protest of its kind in Birmingham. On Dec. 10 a group of demonstrators marched through Railroad Park and Five Points because of Brown and Garner’s deaths, which have brought a national spotlight to race issues and police violence.​