Mass Arrest of 600+ Lawful Protestors; Raid and Seizure of Activists' Meeting Hall; Confiscation of Political Literature; Brutal Beatings of Peaceful Activists
The Partnership for Civil Justice has advanced a class action complaint against the Government for violations of protestors' rights at the April, 2000 Spring joint meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
This lawsuit challenges the disruption efforts of law enforcement against constitutionally protected First Amendment activities and mass political protest, and the unconstitutional trap and arrest tactics of law enforcement in the District of Columbia against mass assembly. The class portion of the Complaint was filed on behalf of nearly 700 protesters, journalists, tourists and bystanders who were trapped on all sides by police and then falsely arrested in an unconstitutional sweep of the streets during a demonstration against the Prison-Industrial Complex on Saturday April 15, 2000. The arrests were made in advance of days of anticipated protests, and were calculated to disrupt First Amendment protected activity. Many arrestees were put in preventive detention overnight, hogtied ankle to wrist, in harsh conditions as described in further detail in the Complaint.
Other claims in this litigation relate to the unconstitutional raid and closure of activists’ meeting hall (the Convergence Center), as well as brutal beatings.
The plaintiffs and the District of Columbia have reached a settlement of the case. Click here for the Joint Motion for Preliminary Approval. Click here for the Court's Order granting Preliminary Approval.
* This case has been previously captioned as both Alliance v. District of Columbia and Fifty Years Is Enough v. District of Columbia. |
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AP: DC agrees to pay $13M over arrests of protesters
Monday, November 23, 2009
Reprint
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Legal Times: City to Settle Mass Arrest Class Action for $13.7 Million
Monday, November 23, 2009
Reprint
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Calling the Police Version of Events "Fanciful," Magistrate Judge Recommends the Court Find Mass Arrests Were False
Thursday, February 28, 2008
U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge John M. Facciola has issued a report and recommendation to presiding Judge Paul L. Friedman that summary judgment issue in favor of the Becker class declaring the mass arrest to be a mass false arrest. Magistrate Judge Facciola also recommended that Judge Friedman reject in entirety the District of Columbia's motion to dismiss the claims of all plaintiffs, including those who were beaten by police or suffered injuries when the MPD raided protestors' Convergence Center.l
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Multimedia Re-Creation of April 15, 2000 Sidewalk March
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
The MPD persists in representing to the Court that the April 15, 2000 march that was ultimately subject to false mass arrest by the MPD was a riot.
Rather than accepting these false claims at false value, the Partnership for Civil Justice has undertaken a massive review and compilation of the multi-media footage of the march. Bringing together the critical moments, selecting from scores of hours of police channel communications, command center dispatch announcements, reports from the overhead helicopter, MPD and civilian video, the PCJF has re-created the peaceful, law-abiding and, indeed, police escorted march from the moment it steps off (with police permission) to the moment when without warning the MPD uses a trap-and-arrest tactic to surround everyone including protestors, by-standers, journalists, tourists and legal observers.
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