PITTSBURGH, May 19 (UPI) -- Civil liberties legal activists say they intend to sue the city of Pittsburgh for arrest sweeps made during protests at the Group of 20 summit last fall.
The American Civil Liberties Union said Tuesday it was planning a lawsuit on behalf of some of the 110 people arrested when police swarmed a congregation of hundreds of students, protesters, onlookers and passersby Sept. 25, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported. The suit will be filed sometime before the one-year anniversary of the protest, state ACLU legal director Witold "Vic" Walczak said.
He told the Post-Gazette the suit was still "a work in progress," but said he plans to argue police made "false arrests" and violated the First Amendment rights of those taken into custody.
"We had a committed group of protesters committed to expressing dissent in a peaceful and respective way, but they were prevented from doing so," Walczak said.
