On the day the ruling elite orchestrate more indictments against the leader of the opposition party in a purported democracy, remember those who engaged in violence during the Summer of George Floyd are the true Janissaries of our time, worthy of recompense.
NYC agrees to pay $13M — or nearly $10K each — to protesters beaten, arrested in 2020 Black Lives Matter demonstrations, NY Post, July 20, 2023
New York City has agreed to pay more than $13 million — or nearly $10,000 each — to demonstrators who were arrested or beaten by cops during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests over the police killing of George Floyd in Minnesota.
The proposed class-action settlement, which still needs to be approved by a judge, would be one of the most expensive payouts awarded in connection with a mass arrest lawsuit in history, according to experts.
The agreement, filed in Manhattan federal court on Wednesday, would award most of the approximately 1,300 plaintiffs who were arrested or subjected to force by police about $10,000 each, according to their attorneys.
The lawsuit, filed against the city, then-Mayor Bill de Blasio and Commissioner Dermot Shea, as well as other police officials and officers, argued that thousands of New Yorkers who “exercised their constitutional rights” were “corralled into places where they could not escape” during the widespread demonstrations.
The plaintiffs were then beaten “with batons, sprayed .. with pepper spray, and arrested … without lawful justification, all without fair warning,” lawyers argued in the court documents.
Plaintiffs marching against racially-targeted police brutality were allegedly “physically restrained” and put “in dangerously close quarters, all in the height of the global COVID-19 pandemic,” lawyers said, arguing the same tactics were not used during similarly sized protests of different issues, according to the complaint.
“It was so disorganized, but so intentional,” said Adama Sow, a plaintiff who claimed their group of marchers were cornered by police, placed in zip ties until their hands turned purple and held on a hot bus for hours.
“They seemed set on traumatizing everyone.”
The settlement agreement applies to protestors at 18 marches or demonstrations in Brooklyn and Manhattan between May 28 and June 4 of 2020.
During more than two years of litigation, city attorneys argued police tactics had been scaled to manage the chaotic situation, and pointed to incidents where some unruly protestors had thrown objects at police or set their cars on fire.
Momentarily, we are on the wrong side of history. Every level of power is aligned against us. Former President Donald Trump is being targeted by the sitting Administration for defenestration, even as he stands alone atop the polls for the Republican nomination for POTUS in 2024.
We weren’t going to vote our way out of this madness; just survive it.
