Some of these protesters were arrested for their second time on Buy Nothing Day. This article is confusing as it ends the arrest of a reckless driving incident that appears unrelated to the Buy Nothing Day demonstration.

[Posted By bengsmack]

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By Ben Nuckols
Republished from WTOP News

Getting arrested is newsworthy and promotes Buy Nothing Day

(AP) – Seven people were arrested for criminal trespass while protesting consumerism at Christiana Mall in Newark, Del., on Black Friday.

The protesters, including three sisters who were also arrested at the mall last year and a man dressed as Santa Claus, were urging shoppers to curb their consumerist urges as part of “Buy Nothing Day,” said Anna White of Washington, D.C., one of the participants.

All seven, including one teenage boy, were issued criminal summons for third-degree criminal trespass and released, Delaware State Police said.

White and her sisters, Laura and Rachel, were arrested at the mall for the second consecutive year. Charges against them stemming from the previous arrests were dropped in April after a prosecutor said she was unable to produce her trial witnesses.

Friday’s arrests were made because the protesters violated the mall’s policy against solicitation, said Sgt. Melissa Zebney, a police spokeswoman.

“The mall security management had asked them numerous times to leave the business under a no-solicitation policy. They approach people asking them not to spend money or shop on this particular day,” Zebney said.

White said, however, that mall security gave no reason for asking them to leave. She said she and her fellow protesters were aware of the no-solicitation policy and were careful not to approach anyone, instead letting people come to them. They wore T-shirts saying “Ask me about nothing” and carried empty bags with “free samples.”

“As they were walking through the mall, people would ask for free samples, and they would give out free samples of nothing,” White said. “Most people think it’s funny.”

The adults charged were identified as Anna White, 31; her sisters Laura White, 29, of Newark and Rachael White, 26, of Washington; Alan Muller, 55, of Port Penn; John Cannon, 54, of Newark; and Michael Berg, 60, of Wilmington.

Anna White said she and her sisters were not expecting to be arrested again this year, because they planned to exit the mall as soon as they were told to leave by police. Instead, police led them to a substation within the mall and arrested them there.

“We were going to wait until the police told us to leave and told us why we were being asked to leave,” she said. “Unfortunately, that never came.”

White and her sisters signed a form saying they would not return to the mall for three years, while the other four were asked not to return for one year, White said, adding that they have not decided whether to hold similar protests in the future.

“We personally feel that we didn’t commit any crime today,” White said. “We should be allowed to be there if we’re not doing anything wrong.”

The mall’s management declined to comment, said marketing director Christina Steinbrenner. Christiana Mall is owned by Chicago-based General Growth Properties.

According to the Adbusters Web site, Buy Nothing Day is an annual, international protest in which people choose not to participate in “the frantic consumer-binge that’s consumed our culture.”

The arrests were part of a busy day for police at Christiana Mall. Shortly after the protesters were charged, a state trooper directing traffic outside the mall was pulled about 20 feet after he tried to question a driver who was spinning his tires behind another vehicle, police said.

The trooper had to break the window of the car to take the driver into custody. The driver, Donald Timlin, 22, of New Castle, was charged with