Thirty to 50 protesters interrupted a meeting of 200 bankers this morning at the Hilton Garden Inn in St. Paul. The Minnesota Bankers Association was hosting its annual legislative conference when at about 10:15 a.m. the meeting was interrupted by a group of people chanting anti-bank slogans and waving signs.

MBA personnel closed the doors to the ballroom where the meeting was taking place, keeping most of the protesters in the lobby. A few protesters got inside the meeting room, however, and disrupted the meeting for about 7 minutes. MBA President/CEO Joe Witt was speaking when the meeting was interrupted. Witt escorted one of the protesters out of the room. The protesters dissipated soon after.

It is believed the protesters represented a group of custodial workers, who staged a protest in the Minneapolis skyway system yesterday.

On Feb. 4, the same group of people attempted to interrupt a meeting of the MBA’s Government Relations Council, but the group mistakenly barged into a meeting of the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, which was taking place in a room next door at the Minnesota River Center.