2nd round of mediation for G20 arrests

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PITTSBURGH, June 5 (UPI) -- A U.S. District Judge Tuesday ordered talks between the city of Pittsburgh and a group of people who say they were wrongly arrested during the 2009 G-20 summit.

Judge Nora Barry Fischer said the two sides should have a second round of mediation talks -- scheduled for July 9 to Aug. 9 -- to arrange a settlement, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported. A round of talks in September failed to settle the case, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.

Twenty-five people arrested in a post-summit gathering in Schenley Plaza said they were falsely arrested, and in some cases abused, Sept. 25, 2009. Twelve of the original plaintiffs, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, have dropped out of the case or accepted settlement offers from the city, Tribune-Review said.

"The judge sending parties back to mediation after discovery is an ordinary part of civil rights litigation," said Witold Walczak, legal director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania.