The group of 14 protestors filed a lawsuit saying that early on New Years Day 2012, they were arrested for peacefully expressing their views. However, a lawyer for the city had said at a court conference in November that the arrests followed a very rowdy and tumultuous march, according to a transcript.
The protestors’ lawyers argued that since the disorderly conduct cases got dismissed in a federal lawsuit, they were arrested for no other reason than “expressing their views.
The police, led by supervising officers, stopped peaceful protesters on the sidewalk, surrounded them with a blue wall of police, told them to disperse, and then arrested them before they possibly could, one of their lawyers, Wylie Stecklow, said in a statement. This was an unacceptable violation of basic constitutional rights.
The city didnt immediately comment.