Protesters involved with OccupyMN said Thursday they plan to erect a large number of tents on the Hennepin County Government Center plaza next Wednesday, defying Hennepin County’s rules and a federal judge.

U.S. District Judge Richard Kyle ruled on Wednesday that the county has the right to restrict the protesters’ ability to use tents and sleep on the plaza.

The protesters said they are also prepared to surround the tents for days, arms locked, in a “human chain” as an act of civil disobedience to resist attempts by authorities to confiscate the tents. A protest organizer said demonstrators are prepared to get arrested for refusing to take the tents down.

Hennepin County sheriff Rich Stanek offered only a brief comment on Thursday in reaction to the announcement of the protesters’ plans. “The federal judge has ruled, and we will abide his decision,” Stanek said.

A news release, issued Thursday by Occupy protesters “events committee,” said the protesters plan to erect “99 tents for the 99 percent,” a reference to the slogan Occupy protesters across the country have used to argu that 1 percent of the nation’s population controls the wealth and 99 percent of the population is suffering the consequences.

“It’s our right (to set up tents) and we are not going to allow an unethical mandate to tell us how we are going to run our occupation,” said Sam Richards, 22, of Minneapolis, who said he has been involved in the protest at the plaza since it began on Oct. 7.

County security staff and sheriff's deputies have previously attempted to remove the tents, but they waited until the early morning hours when the protest crowds had diminished to move in and confiscate them.

Richards said protesters are anticipating a similar strategy by authorities and will counter it by keeping a crowd of demonstrators on the plaza for days to protect the tents.

Richards said that two protesters been taken to the hospital for hypothermia recently and he blamed the county rules that prohibit tents and structures.

As a result of the rules, he said, people have gotten much colder and the blankets they use have gotten wet from rain and snow.

Richards said he is one of four plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed on Monday by the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota in U.S. District Court in St. Paul on behalf of the occupation on the county plaza.

Judge Kile ruled Wednesday, after a hearing, that while protesters have a right to affix signs and place chalked messages on the plaza, the county has the right to restrict the use of tents or to sleep overnight. Wednesday night, however, some protesters slept on the plaza anyway.

Kyle also ordered the county and the Occupy protests to engage in settlement talks with a U.S. magistrate judge to resolve their issues.

Richards said he is hopeful the tent dispute can be resolved in those talks. In the meantime, he said, “We are going to take matters into our own hands.”

