WP: D.C. Sued Over Response to ('05 Presidential) Inaugural Protesters

[DeepModem Mom]

D.C. Sued Over Response to Inaugural Protesters
By Henri E. Cauvin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, January 20, 2006; Page B04


The American Civil Liberties Union filed three lawsuits yesterday against the District, alleging that D.C. police made false arrests and indiscriminately used pepper spray in cracking down on demonstrators during last year's presidential inauguration.

The confrontations between protesters and police during and after the inaugural parade -- which was held a year ago today -- were more scattered and less intense than those in 2001 when President Bush first took office.

But in the lawsuits, filed yesterday in U.S. District Court, the ACLU alleges that police went overboard in their response to isolated instances of lawbreaking and ended up violating the rights of peaceful demonstrators and bystanders.

"People who come to the nation's Capital to demonstrate, or to observe major public events, are supposed to be protected by the police, not be assaulted and arrested," Arthur Spitzer, legal director of the local branch of the ACLU, said in a statement. "Soaking people with pepper spray is not a game as the D.C. police seem to have treated it on Inauguration Day last year."...


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/19/AR2006011903105.html

[texpatriot2004]

1. Thank God for the ACLU. n.t

[stepnw1f]

2. Good, Good, Good

Freedom is on the March after all.