NBA team owner's classy response to stadium protest

Sacramento Kings owner Vivek Ranadive has issued a classy response after protests disrupted an NBA game.

Hundreds of protestors gathered in Sacramento on Thursday afternoon local time to protest against the fatal police shooting of Stephon Clark, a 22-year-old black man.

Clark was shot by police near his grandparents' house this week.

Local reports say he was holding a mobile phone, which police assumed was a gun.

The demonstration over Clark's death began in the afternoon on a main freeway and moved into Sacramento's city centre less than an hour before the Kings' game against the Atlanta Hawks was due to begin.

With perhaps only a couple of thousand fans inside the 17,600-capacity Golden 1 Center, protestors blocked the entrances -- and officials had no choice but to lock the doors.

The game was delayed for just over 20 minutes, while the national anthem and player introductions were cancelled before the contest tipped off in virtual silence.

After the Kings won their match against the Atlanta Hawks 105-90, the team's owner, Ranadive, decided to address the small crowd.

Watch his classy response to the protests in the video at the top of the page.

“We at the Kings recognise your people’s ability to protest peacefully, and we respect that,” Ranadivé said.

“We stand here before you, old, young, black, white, brown, and we are all united in our commitment.

We recognise that it’s not just business as usual, and we are going to work really hard to bring everybody together to make the world a better place, starting with our own community, and we’re going to work really hard to prevent this kind of tragedy from happening again.”

The Kings will now work to refund tickets to fans who were unable to gain access to the stadium.