Chicago to pay $6.2M in protest settlement

CHICAGO, Feb. 10 (UPI) -- Chicago has agreed to pay a total of $6.2 million to about 850 protesters wrongfully arrested or detained after a 2003 demonstration against the Iraq War.

The city agreed to the payouts in the settlement of a 9-year-old class-action lawsuit protesters brought after mass arrests by the Chicago Police Department, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

Plaintiffs who had been arrested, charged and had to go to court will get up to $15,000. Those arrested and released without being charged will get up to $8,750 and those detained at the scene will get up to $500.

A federal appeals court judge ruled last year the arrests were unjustified because police allowed the demonstration to take place without a permit, but then arrested people for participating without giving a clear order to disperse or giving them a chance to leave.

"This case is important not only to the class members and their attorneys, but also for civil liberties, as it scores a significant victory for the right to demonstrate in Chicago," attorneys from the People's Law Office said in a statement.

More than 10,000 people participated in the demonstration and shut down Lake Shore Drive during rush hour before police trapped them at Chicago and Michigan avenues and arrested more than 500 while detaining 350 others.

Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy said the city has learned lessons from the lawsuit it will apply during the G8 and NATO summits in the city this spring.

During Occupy Chicago protests, McCarthy said, "there were very clear warnings given" protesters by police.

"[Protesters] were videoed so that they're on tape, so that we can say, 'Yes, we have issued these warnings,'" he said. "And then people received individual warnings. So we've certainly learned the lessons of the past as far as moving forward and what it is we need to do."