HOLYOKE, Mass. (AP) – Teenagers are fighting a new escort policy at the Holyoke Mall at Ingleside by launching an Internet petition drive to gather signatures in protest.

Hoping to crack down on unruly behavior, the mall managers will soon require shoppers under 18 to be accompanied by an adult on Friday and Saturday between 4 p.m. and closing time. The new rule takes hold on Sept. 9.

The new restriction will be policed by security staff checking photo identification cards at the mall’s entrances.

Michael A. Lemme of Chicopee posted his petition on the Web at noon Wednesday and by midnight 665 names were added. Many added comments such as “this is an outrage!” Lemme told The Republican of Springfield that he and his friends are upset.

“It’s ridiculous,” the 15-year-old Chicopee Comprehensive High School student said. “You shouldn’t have to be a certain age just to go to the mall with your friends. You should be able to go at any age, as long as your parents let you.”

Lemme wants to obtain 1,000 signatures in hopes of persuading mall owners to dump the new rule. But William J. Rogalski, general manager of the mall owned by The Pyramid Companies, said the decision stands.

“We won’t change our mind,” Rogalski told The Republican. “I do applaud the fact that they’re doing this, whoever took the initiative.”

Many teenagers predict the mall will lose business.

“I think if kids are old enough to get a driver’s license and to pay insurance for their cars, they’re definitely old enough to go to the mall,” said Rachel Craig, 15, of Chicopee.

“It’s fun. You talk, joke around and spend money. I wouldn’t go with my parents. It would just be boring.”

The policy is already in place at three New York malls owned by Pyramid Co., which runs the Holyoke mall. Pyramid officials say there are no plans to implement the policy in the company’s three other malls in Pittsfield and Hadley, both in western Massachusetts, and Plymouth, which is south of Boston.

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