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<h1 id="articleTitle" class="articleTitle">Mall of America tries
to block Black Lives Matter protest</h1>
<div id="articleByline" class="articleByline"><a
class="articleByline"
href="mailto:meccher@pioneerpress.com?subject=TwinCities.com:">By
Marino Eccher<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:meccher@pioneerpress.com">meccher@pioneerpress.com</a></a><br>
<a class="articleByline"
href="mailto:meccher@pioneerpress.com?subject=TwinCities.com:">12/21/2015
</a><br>
<b><small><small><small><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_29292480/mall-america-tries-block-black-lives-matter-protest">http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_29292480/mall-america-tries-block-black-lives-matter-protest</a></small></small></small></b><br>
<a class="articleByline"
href="mailto:meccher@pioneerpress.com?subject=TwinCities.com:"><span
id="dateUpdated" title="12/21/2015 12:26:34 PM"></span></a></div>
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<p>The Mall of America is taking Black Lives Matter
Minneapolis activists to court in an effort to head off
a protest planned for Wednesday. </p>
<p>The group has announced plans to demonstrate over the
fatal shooting of Jamar Clark in the mall's East
Rotunda. </p>
<p>The privately owned mall forbids protests and has
called the plans illegal. It is hoping to prevent the
type of disruption that thousands of protesters caused
last year, when stores had to temporarily close and
dozens of people were arrested.
</p>
<p>Letters sent by the Mall of America to four of Black
Lives Matter organizers last week said protesters would
be removed and potentially arrested if the event
continued as planned, the organization said. </p>
<p>On Monday, the mall requested a temporary restraining
order to force activists to call off the protest. Black
Lives Matter called the action an "unconstitutional
suit." The order prohibits four named activists, four
unnamed parties, "their agents, and all persons in
active concert or participation with them" from
demonstrating on mall property without permission,
according to court documents posted on Facebook by Black
Lives Matter Minneapolis.
</p>
<p>The order also seeks to block the defendants from
"soliciting or encouraging others" to demonstrate
without permission, to order them to take down online
and social media postings that encourage the protest,
and to immediately post on social media that the protest
has been canceled.</p>
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<p>"Mall of America supports BLM's First Amendment right
to free expression, but courts have clearly ruled that
right may not be exercised on private property without
the consent of the property owner," the mall's attorney
wrote.
</p>
<p>The documents were served Monday. A hearing for the
mall's request is scheduled for 2 p.m. Monday in
Hennepin County District Court.
</p>
<p>The planned protest comes a year after a similar
demonstration in which 2,000 to 3,000 people gathered at
the mall as part of nationwide protests over police
killings of black men in Missouri and New York. The
demonstration, which was peaceful, temporarily closed
about 80 stores and resulted in two-dozen arrests. </p>
<p>A Hennepin County judge last month dismissed unlawful
assembly and other charges against 11 organizers of the
protest, but allowed trespass and obstruction charges to
proceed against 17 participants who refused to leave
when mall security and protest organizers tried to end
the assembly.
</p>
<p>Jamar Clark was shot during a Nov. 15 confrontation
with two police officers who responded to a report of a
North Minneapolis assault in which Clark was a suspect.
Authorities said he was interfering with paramedics who
were trying to treat the victim. Clark died the next
day.
</p>
<p>Some who witnessed the incident say Clark was
handcuffed when shot. Police officials dispute that, and
the police union has said Clark had grabbed an officer's
handgun from its holster.
</p>
<p>The shooting is being investigated by state and federal
authorities, who have refused to release video footage
of the incident, saying that to do so would compromise
the probe.
</p>
<p>Black Lives Matter Minneapolis is demanding the release
of the video; prosecution of the police involved without
the involvement of a grand jury; and federal domestic
terrorism charges against four suspected white
supremacists accused of shooting five protesters after
Clark's death.
</p>
<p>Absent those conditions, "organizers have no plans to
halt the demonstration," the group said.
</p>
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