PCJF response to D.C. Chief Lanier's 'chilling' activation of civil disturbance units for Ferguson protests
D.C. local media is reporting that Police Chief Cathy Lanier has activated 17 civil disturbance platoons and the special operations division (which include K-9, the bomb squad and the emergency response team), instructing that they will be working on Sunday and Monday in preparation for Ferguson-related protests.
Occupy Wall Street Brooklyn Bridge Mass Arrests
Attorneys from the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (PCJF) on Oct. 4 filed a class action lawsuit against Mayor Bloomberg, Police Commissioner Kelly and the City of New York, charging mass violations of constitutional rights in the trap and detain mass arrest of 700 demonstrators on the Brooklyn Bridge this past Saturday, October 1, 2011. The lawsuit charges that the NYPD engaged in a premeditated, planned, scripted, and calculated effort to sweep the streets of protestors and disrupt a growing protest movement in New York.
McClatchy DC: Public to Secret Service at White House: Don’t fence us out
Washingtonians are pushing back against suggestions that the U.S. Secret Service might make it harder for the public to get close to the White House.
The Hill: Activists decry plans to restrict access around White House
Civil liberties advocates are sounding the alarm amid reports that federal authorities may impose new restrictions to public access around the White House in response to a security lapse last week that allowed a fence jumper to walk through the front door of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Bloomberg News: Secret Service Erects Extra Barrier to Buffer White House
The Partnership for Civil Justice Fund, a Washington-based civil liberties legal group, called proposals to further restrict the area around the White House, frequently the site of protests, “an outrageous assault on free speech.”