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| USA TODAY
Peaceful protests by George Floyd marred by outbursts of violence
Many protests across the country on Sunday were peaceful, but there were also pockets of arson, vandalism and looting.
CHICAGO – Police used “brutal, violent and unconstitutional tactics” to quell protests against murders of black Americans last summer, with victims claiming beatings with batons and sprayed with chemicals, federal lawsuit says filed Thursday.
Civil rights aLawyers at Northwestern University Legal Clinics and others filed the 203-page complaint on behalf of 60 people who joined the protests to bring national attention to the cases of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Jacob Blake and others.
“These 60 plaintiffs are multiracial, multigenerational and come from all walks of life. They all participated in various protests across the city in the summer of 2020,” lawyer Vanessa del Valle said at a virtual press conference Thursday.
The 17-count complaint alleges violations of the rights of protesters to the First, Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments and more. He appoints Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown, as well as 20 officers.
“As the plaintiffs exercised their First Amendment rights to protest police violence against black people, Chicago police brutally beat them with batons, including blows in the head, hit them in the face, tackled them. on the ground, knelt and kicked them, dragged them through the streets, used chemical agents on them and boiled them, ”del Valle said.
Police also targeted protesters’ property – destroying cameras, phones and glasses and confiscating bicycles, backpacks and other property, according to the prosecution. Officers “regularly called the protesters despicable and vulgar names, often using misogynistic and homophobic words” and “encounters often intensified in the affirmative by taunts, shoving, pushing and other inappropriate behavior during these events. protests, “says the trial.
Chicago’s legal department, whose spokesperson Kathleen Fieweger, said the city has yet to be served.
“It is important to remember that these are allegations at this point and not evidence. We will thoroughly review the complaint and each allegation it contains, once we have been served and responded with the courts where appropriate, “she said in a statement.
One of the plaintiffs named in the lawsuit, Miracle Boyd, 18, attended a “black and native solidarity rally” in Grant Park on July 17. After the event, Boyd and hundreds of others walked to a nearby Columbus statue, where they clashed with dozens of Chicago police officers in an encounter that turned violent.
Protesters clash with police: Violent encounter at the statue of Columbus in Chicago; 12 arrested, many injured
As hundreds of protesters marched towards the statue, dozens of people dressed in black and carrying black umbrellas began throwing frozen water bottles, fireworks and other projectiles at the police guarding the statue , who hit the protesters with their batons, police said. At least 49 officers were injured and some were treated on site by paramedics while others were taken to hospital. Photos and videos of the incident shared on social media showed protesters bleeding.
In the middle of the encounter, an officer punched Boyd, breaking one of his teeth and bloodying his face. She later had to get root canals on both teeth, received veneer to replace the lost tooth and continues to experience pain in her right front tooth due to nerve damage, according to the costume.
“The officer who hit me must be held accountable for his actions,” Boyd said at the press conference Thursday.
Superintendent Brown later defended the actions of his officers, saying the peaceful protest was “hijacked by organized crowds.”
It was not the only protest where Chicagoans reported excessive use of force. Chicago’s Civilian Office of Police Accountability, the agency that investigates police misconduct, received 520 complaints related to protests between May 29 and the end of October, according to the agency’s website. Since then, eight officers have been relieved of their police powers and 170 investigations are ongoing.
In Thursday’s virtual press conference, Damon Williams, 27, one of the protesters named in the suit, said the filing of the complaint marked “a really important day.”
“This trial and this summer and this year has been a period of historic responsibility, and this trial is the continuing documentation of the harm to us,” he said.
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