MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Demonstrators decrying police treatment of minorities stopped traffic for several hours on a major highway near downtown Minneapolis before rallying at City Hall.

Some protesters were fast-food workers demanding higher wages and union rights. Others were protesting a grand jury's decision not to charge a white police officer in the chokehold death of a black man in New York.

KSTP-TV reports the demonstrators marched northbound on Interstate 35W Thursday, stopping periodically to lie down in the middle of the freeway. The protesters arrived at City Hall and chanted, "I can't breathe."

Traffic was unable to move while demonstrators blocked the busy interstate. The Star Tribune reports state troopers were on the scene but appeared not to make any arrests.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation reports lanes opened at 2:30 p.m.

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