New York: A group of Wall Street protesters, who were among the over 700 people arrested in New York, has sued the city police and Mayor Michael Bloomberg, saying authorities violated their constitutional rights and lured them into a "premeditated" trap before detaining them at Brooklyn Bridge.
In the lawsuit filed in federal District Court in Manhattan, five of the protesters said police officers had led people onto the bridge's roadway and then prevented them from leaving the bridge on Saturday.
Later, police arrested more than 700 people saying the huge crowd was disrupting traffic on the bridge.
"We believe the New York Police Department engaged in a premeditated, planned, scripted and calculated effort to get the protesters off the street," said Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, the executive director of the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund, which is representing the protesters.
The lawsuit, which also names city police commissioner Raymond Kelly, seeks to ban similar arrests in the future and is asking for unspecified damages.
The 'Occupy Wall Street' movement has gathered momentum ever since the over 700 people were arrested.
Similar protests and rallies are being organised across the US, with demonstrations against corporate America being held outside federal banks and city halls in Los Angeles, Chicago and Boston among other cities.
Protesters say they are in this movement for the long haul. People have camped out at Wall Street, the city's financial hub, with supporters distributing food, sleeping bags and blankets.
Henry Baker, who has been part of the movement for the past several days, said he is "fed up" with the way the financial institutions have been functioning.
"I have had enough. I had to be here and it is high time our broken economic structure is fixed," he said, waving an American flag.
Alax Kristie, who was handing out pamphlets of a major rally that organisers plan to take out on Wednesday, said support for their cause against corporate greed had been growing.
"We are not leaving unless some action is taken to fix the corporate mess. The government and the financial institutions, that have been giving out hefty bonuses to their executives, will now have to listen to the voice of the common people," she said.
Demonstrators waved flags, banners, sang songs and held open debates as they tried to garner support.
Comments
0 comment