Amid growing concern over teenage mayhem at shopping centers, a Sacramento mall barred unaccompanied minors from its property the day after Christmas — and touched off a wide-ranging debate about whether such bans are discriminatory.

The Arden Fair mall’s decision to crack down on teens Dec. 26 is not unprecedented — malls across the country have taken similar action in the past. But it provoked strong criticism from civil libertarians, who say the move violates California law, and frustration from Bay Area teens.

“It’s illegal,” said Michael Risher, a senior staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union in San Francisco. “The law says you must treat people as individuals, not as a class.”

Related Articles Herhold: Ban all shoppers from malls In recent years, America’s malls have seen a number of incidents around Christmas starring young people behaving badly, often near food courts or theaters, sometimes resulting in fisfights. This year saw brawls at malls from Aurora, Colorado, to Fayetteville, North Carolina.

Some malls have stepped up security in response, increasing staffing for the day after Christmas, and about 100 operators across the country have also instituted curfews or total bans on unaccompanied minors at certain times. It was unclear Tuesday whether any Bay Area malls have instituted such bans, although several confirmed that they have not.

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Justin Darneille, 17, who was grabbing a bite to eat with three friends at Hillsdale Shopping Center in San Mateo, called Arden Fair’s ban “ridiculous.” Most teenagers are responsible enough to handle themselves in public, he said, and should not be punished for the behavior of a small group of disruptive youths.

Nearby, Luke Sena and four friends were snacking at Wetzel’s Pretzels after playing pickup football. They said a policy banning unaccompanied minors amounts to discrimination.

“It’s just like stereotyping teenagers in general,” said Luke, a 15-year-old sophomore. “It’s completely tyrannical.”

Over in the East Bay, 16-year-old Anthony Gilbert, of Martinez, said malls should be able to uphold public safety with increased security. Then he spoke an eternal truth.

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“Teenagers,” he said, “don’t want to go to the mall with their parents.”

Hillsdale did not immediately respond to calls seeking comment on the center’s policies, but parent-less teens are a regular sight at the mall.

Caran Fisher, spokeswoman for Westfield Valley Fair and Westfield Oakridge, in San Jose, said neither property has enacted such a policy or experienced problems with youth violence.

“The holidays are a high-traffic time for families and teens, and I can tell you that we did increase our security and traffic control this year to ensure the safety of everyone,” she said. “Teens are a big part of our customer base, and we want to make sure everyone is safe and happy.”

Sunvalley Mall in Concord has no such policy, said spokeswoman Kim Trupiano. Like other shopping centers, Sunvalley has a code of conduct prohibiting various forms of disruptive or disorderly behavior.

But officials at Arden Fair saw a need to get tough. In an interview Monday with the Sacramento Bee, a spokeswoman defended the new policy as a pre-emptive measure to ensure the safety of everyone at a mall that in recent years has experienced brawls after Christmas. This season, guards and Sacramento police officers were staged at mall entrances, enforcing a blanket ban on minors not accompanied by a parent or guardian.

Risher, of the ACLU, said a California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act prohibits any business from “arbitrary discrimination against people based on sex, race, religion and sexual orientation as well as other categories, including minors,” and a Supreme Court ruling confirmed it applies to businesses banning minors because of concerns about their behavior. A Fresno mall’s 2007 ban on youths was reversed after the ACLU, along with the Fresno city attorney, wrote letters to complain.

The attorney indicated the ACLU is not planning a lawsuit at this time but will monitor Arden Fair and “see what happens.”

Stephanie Cegielski, spokeswoman for the International Council of Shopping Centers, which represents owners of 53,000 shopping centers and malls in the United States, said the number of holiday incidents appears to be on the rise.

This year, the day after Christmas “saw a series of fights that broke out, mostly among young people,” she said. “Some of this comes from the long holiday weekend and teenagers maybe being bored and then going to the mall to cause some mayhem.”

Security officials are increasingly concerned that social-media tools like Facebook and Twitter are being used to coordinate meetups at malls that lead to gang fights and other problems. Activists are worried that security guards may be using racial profiling in enforcing the ban on minors, singling out young African-Americans, for example, when they decide who can come inside and who can’t.

Aidan Reinwald, of Concord, said a ban like Arden Fair’s treats all teenagers like potential law-breakers.

“They shouldn’t just take rights away from any teenager,” said Aidan, 14. “And if they do that, they’re not going to get as much money.”

Across the bay in San Mateo, Ethan Landry, 15, also zeroed in on the bottom line.

“They would be ex-communicating the majority of the population of the mall,” he said.

Staff writer Sam Richards contributed to this report.