The Latest: Mall of America attorney hopes ruling will keep Black Lives Matter protesters away

MINNEAPOLIS – The latest developments on plans by Black Lives Matter activists to protest at the Mall of America (all times local):

6:30 p.m.

An attorney for the Mall of America is pleased with a judge’s ruling barring three organizers from attending a Black Lives Matter protest set for Wednesday at the Minnesota mall.

While the ruling does not prevent others from showing up to demonstrate, attorney Susan Gaertner calls it another court decision emphasizing that the mall is private property and has the right to ban demonstrations.

Gaertner says she hopes that not only the organizers but anyone else who is thinking of coming to the mall “and breaking the law will think better of it.”

Kandace Montgomery, one of three organizers barred by the judge’s order, says the group isn’t deterred by the ban. She declined to say if she or her fellow organizers still planned to go to the mall, but she said she expects at least 700 people to show up.

Protest organizers want to draw attention to the Nov. 15 police shooting of a black Minneapolis man, Jamar Clark, who died a day later.

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3:55 p.m.

A judge has barred three people from attending an upcoming Black Lives Matter protest they organized at the Mall of America but says she doesn’t have the power to prevent others from showing up to demonstrate.

Judge Karen Janisch on Tuesday approved the nation’s largest mall’s request for a temporary restraining order barring the protest organizers from showing up there on Wednesday. However, she denied its request to order the organizers to alert others on social media that the protest is cancelled.

The mall hopes to avoid a repeat of a huge demonstration last December that forced the closure of stores.

Black Lives Matter protesters have vowed to demonstrate regardless of the judge’s decision, hoping to draw attention to last month’s police killing of a black man and to pressure investigators to release video of the shooting. Authorities say they won’t release it while investigations continue.

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6:15 a.m.

A Minnesota judge is expected to rule on the Mall of America’s request to keep protesters from demonstrating there on the busy shopping day before Christmas Eve.

Judge Karen Janisch is expected to rule Tuesday on the mall’s request for a temporary restraining order.

Black Lives Matter organizers plan to rally at the mall Wednesday to protest the death of Jamar Clark, who was shot by Minneapolis police Nov. 15 and later died. Police have said he was shot during a struggle, but some say Clark was handcuffed.

On Monday, protesters vowed to hold their protest regardless of Janisch’s ruling.

Last year, a similar Christmas-time demonstration attracted thousands and forced the temporary closure of mall stores. Dozens of people were arrested. The mall is private property and doesn’t allow demonstrations.