Royal Oak Bookstore Closes Friday To Protest ICE

ROYAL OAK, MI — A Royal Oak bookstore shut its doors Friday as part of a nationwide protest against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Sidetrack Bookshop, located at 325 S Washington Avenue, joined the nationwide general strike in response to the deadly ICE-involved shootings that happened in Minneapolis this month.

"Closing for an entire day as an indie bookstore feels scary, but meeting this moment and standing with the people of Minnesota and other communities being impacted by ICE feels necessary to us," the group said in the post.

The bookstore said they will reopen on Saturday with 10 percent of their profits going to Stand with Minnesota, a self-described mutual-aid fund meant to help immigrant families.

The general strike, which is organized by Nationalshutdown.org, urged participants not to go to work, school or shop on Friday, Jan. 30.

"The people of the Twin Cities have shown the way for the whole country – to stop ICE’s reign of terror, we need to shut it down," the organization said on its website.

Alex Pretti and Renee Good were shot to death earlier this month in Minneapolis during ICE-related activities. The shootings sparked nationwide and local protests against the Trump administration's aggressive immigration crackdown.

Trump has since said he plans to "de-escalate" federal operations in Minnesota.