Black Lives Matter protesters have been banned from attending a demonstration at the Mall of America.
The protest was scheduled for Wednesday, a huge day for last minute holiday shoppers, particularly at the country’s largest mall. A protest held there at the same time last year forced some stores to close their doors, according to the Washington Times.
Attorneys representing the Mall of America requested a temporary restraining order against all demonstrators, but District Court Judge Karen Janisch limited it to three organizers, Fox News reports.
“The Court does not have a sufficient basis to issue an injunction as to Black Lives Matter or to unidentified persons who may be acting as its agents or in active concert with the Black Lives Matter movement,” she wrote in her ruling,
The lawsuit also requested that organizers delete social media posts about the upcoming protest and write new ones informing their followers that it’s canceled. The defendants’ lawyer argued that would be unconstitutional, but Judge Janisch denied the request.
Susan Gaertner, the attorney representing the privately owned mall, said during the hearing that the lawsuit is meant to prevent loss of sales and has nothing to do with the group’s message. She told Fox News that the ruling “makes it clear that even before today, Mall of America has the right to say, ‘No you cannot demonstrate here,'” adding that she hopes others planning to attend will “think better of it.”
Kandace Montgomery, one of the three banned organizers, said that Black Lives Matter protestors aren’t discouraged by the ruling. As she told Fox News, “Just barring three of us does not mean that you’ve stopped our work.”
