$50,000 Payment to Each of Four Vt & K Arrestees Plus Attorneys Fees and Costs and Police Training and Notice of First Amendment Rights Required

The D.C. police department agreed to pay $685,000 and take steps to protect protesters from police abuse and ensure their rights to settle a lawsuit over the treatment of demonstrators at President Bush's inauguration in 2001.

Civil rights lawyers representing protesters at President Bush's 2001 inauguration announced a settlement Tuesday with District of Columbia police that includes changes in department policies for handling demonstrations.

When city officials denied demonstrators access to the Great Lawn in Central Park during the 2004 Republican National Convention, political advocates and ordinary New Yorkers accused Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of squelching demonstrations that could embarrass fellow Republicans during their gathering.

Robert Randall never knew free speech could cost so much -- in dollars and in compromises -- until he tried to organize a demonstration for this summer's meeting of the major industrial nations.

Muslim leaders say the government is persecuting them as it once did suspected supporters of Japan or the Soviet Union more than 50 years ago.