Civil rights attorneys filed suit yesterday accusing District and U.S. authorities of violating the First Amendment during the World Bank protests in April, and they warned police elsewhere against using similar tactics to stifle. Suit Says Police Violated Protesters' Rights
By David Montgomery Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, July 28, 2000; Page A04
Civil rights attorneys filed suit yesterday accusing District and U.S. authorities of violating the First Amendment during the World Bank protests in April, and they warned police elsewhere against using similar tactics to stifle a new "progressive movement."
Joined by a 14-year-old girl who was caught up in a mass arrest by D.C. police and a young man who said he was beaten during a march, legal activists, including lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union, announced the class action lawsuit on the steps of U.S. District Court on behalf of 15 named plaintiffs and thousands of unnamed protesters.
The suit alleges that the defendants, including D.C. Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey and the directors of seven federal law enforcement agencies, used unconstitutional tactics to intimidate and disrupt protesters. The tactics, they said, included a blanket arrest of everybody on a single block the night before the demonstrations and a raid of the protesters' headquarters.
"What happened here was a dramatic and widespread violation of the law by the police," said Arthur B. Spitzer, legal director of the local chapter of the ACLU.
Spitzer said the timing of the lawsuit was meant to put the police in Philadelphia and Los Angeles on notice that civil rights advocates will be watching how they handle large demonstrations planned at the Republican and Democratic national conventions this summer. Many activists who participated in the D.C. protests are in Philadelphia for the GOP event, which opens Monday. The Democratic convention is Aug. 14 to 17 in Los Angeles.
Attorneys for the protesters said a common theme of anger at corporate influence over national politics and world trade link the World Trade Organization protests in Seattle last year, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund protests in the District in April, and the convention protests this summer.
"It's the post-Seattle police strategy for how to stop a progressive movement, a new youth movement," said Brian Becker, co-director of the International Action Center, a plaintiff. "This lawsuit is important because our movement is growing, as will be demonstrated at the conventions in Philadelphia and Los Angeles."
After the Washington protests of April 16 and 17 ended with nearly 1,300 arrests but without the chaos that gripped Seattle, police officials congratulated themselves on a job well done. They reaffirmed that analysis yesterday.
"I apologize for nothing we did," Ramsey said in response to the lawsuit. "They have the right to sue us just like they had to right to protest."
Ramsey would not comment on the specifics of the lawsuit because, he said, he hadn't read it.
A spokeswoman for Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) said the mayor also would have no comment because the case is pending.
The suit, filed by groups including the National Lawyers Guild and the Partnership for Civil Justice, focuses on several police actions.
Under the category of "disruption," the suit alleges that city or federal officers stopped and frisked activists in the street and searched vehicles without probable cause.
The suit accuses the D.C. police of "false arrest" in the case of the 600 people rounded up at 20th and K streets NW the evening of April 15. According to Becker, many of the 600 were marchers who were returning from a legal protest at the Justice Department. He said D.C. police officers told the protesters to turn north on 20th Street. Then, at K Street, police closed the block and arrested everyone there--including tourists, bystanders and a Washington Post photographer.
Mitra Mohammadi, of the District, who was then 13, said she and her mother had come that night to see what the demonstrations were all about. "We saw the marchers go by, then we decided to film it, and then we got locked up and arrested." She said she spent six hours in custody before being released.
The suit accuses police of using excessive force but names only one victim, Rob Fish, 21, of New Jersey. At a news conference, Fish described being beaten by a man in civilian clothes who had a badge and wielded a baton. Spitzer said the attorneys intend to append numerous examples of brutality.
The suit also attacks the closing of the protesters' headquarters on Florida Avenue NW the day before the demonstration. Police said there were fire violations. Spitzer said that there may well have been violations but that there are such violations across the city. He said it was a pretext to disrupt the group.
Authorities confiscated supplies, including political pamphlets and protest puppets. A few hours later, they gave back some of the puppets. The suit alleges that city officials reneged on a deal to return the rest of the confiscated material before the demonstrations began.
Executive Assistant Chief Terrance W. Gainer said yesterday: "I thought we were trying to be as fair as can be in that situation. The fire codes shut that building down, and we tried to work with them to free the puppets and materials."
The suit accuses police of spreading false information to reporters, including allegations that materials for making pepper spray were found in the activists' headquarters. The protesters say the materials police found were actually ingredients to make gazpacho.
Gainer said yesterday that the department does not concede that the peppers and onions officers found were indeed the makings for gazpacho.
"I like gazpacho," he said. "But what we found there, in the context of the situation, was seen as potentially dangerous."
Staff writers Petula Dvorak and Bill Miller contributed to this report.
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