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© NBC10Philadelphia.com - Monique BraxtonThree moms are speaking out after they were allegedly harassed by two security guards while they were breastfeeding inside a mall in Delaware.
Diana Hitchens, Autumne Murray and Jessica Hitchens all say their message was clear when they arrived at the Hollister store at the Concord Mall in Delaware Saturday afternoon. The three women were staging a nurse-in to raise awareness about a woman's right to breastfeed in public. The protest from the three mothers was in response to an incident at a Houston, Texas mall in which a Hollister store manager threw out a mother who was breastfeeding inside the store. The mothers carried posters which read, "Hey Hollister, my baby has a right to eat. It's the law," as well as "Normalize breastfeeding in public. Do you eat in public? Why shouldn't our babies?"

"We walked through the store and the employees asked if we needed help with anything," said Diana Hitchens of Elkton, Maryland. "We were actually nursing as we were walking through the store."

But in the midst of their protest, the three mothers say they encountered some problems of their own. Moments after they staged a sit-in, mall security arrived.

"Two security guards walked up to us," said Autumne Murray of Elkton, Maryland. "They started questioning us and asking us why we were exposing ourselves and saying that we needed to leave or cover up. We got in an argument with them about it for a little bit and then they left."

When mall security returned, they brought along a Delaware State Trooper who was on routine patrol, according to state police.

"He was asking if we were exposing ourselves saying that the security guards said we were exposing ourselves and that we could be kicked out of the mall if we didn't cover up," said Murray.

Delaware State Police tell NBC10 they are considering the incident a "civil matter" between the three women and the mall. The issue escalated however when websites supporting the nursing moms began sharing their story.

The blog Jubilee Baby Co. posted a screenshot of a Facebook Poster with the name "Concord Mall" calling the breastfeeding moms "an eyesore." The blog claimed the post was made on the Concord Mall Facebook page and that it was quickly deleted. However, the Concord Mall's operations manager, who did not return NBC10's calls, posted a message on a breastfeeding community's events page, denying that the post came from a Concord Mall representative. The manager also claimed the contract security officer involved in Saturday's incident was immediately removed from the mall. The manager stated the following:
The Concord Mall does not have a Facebook page or a Twitter account. Whoever posted these comments did so without the knowledge or authorization of the Concord Mall.

The only way that the Concord Mall communicates on line is through the mall's official website. The contract security officer involved in this unfortunate incident was immediately removed from the Concord Mall. The Delaware State Police were not called because a woman was breastfeeding their child. The State Police patrol the mall as a usual patrol and came up on the security officer and the women arguing. The trooper intervened and the security officer was removed and sent home pending further action.

The security officer involved is not employed by the Concord mall and the Concord Mall finds his actions unacceptable.
NBC10 checked to see if the Concord Mall actually had a Facebook Page. While there is a link to a Facebook page on their official website, the link does not open, indicating that it may have been deleted.

"We'd like them to be more educated about the law for nursing in public," said Jessica Hitchens of Newark, Delaware.

According to Delaware state law, women are allowed to breastfeed in any public or private location.

Concord Mall security and customer service referred NBC10 to their superiors who return to work on Monday when we tried to speak with them. They then asked us to leave the parking lot.