Washington: Civil rights group, Black Lives Matter activists along the American Civil Liberties Union and Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law sued the Trump administration for using heavy force on peaceful protestors in an attempt to clear them as the President of United States, Donald Trump wanted to get a picture clicked near a church in Washington D.C.
They filed a case against Trump and federal law enforcement agencies which said that the U.S Park Police and the National Guard defied the constitutional rights of protestors by evacuating them from the square of Washington through violent means on Monday.
The media and demonstrators reported that they were met with violence including horses, projectiles and gas to force them out of the Lafayette Park for a photo-session of the President.
The crowd had gathered to protest the killing of unarmed George Floyd and Breonna Taylor by police officials along with the injustices suffered by the black community in United States.
“What happened to our members Monday evening, here in the nation’s capital, was an affront to all our rights,” said April Goggans, Core Organizer of Black Lives Matter D.C., the main applicant of the case.
During a press conference held by Trump in the Rose Garden on Monday, the President threatened to use military services to get rid of the protestors, further citing that the armed officials would “quickly solve the problem for them.”
At the same time, U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Park Police, D.C. National Guard, and U.S. Military Police who had been posted across the street, resorted to using chemical irritants and shot rubber bullets to scatter and cease the peaceful protest. The incident occurred before the Washington, D.C., curfew of 7 p.m. ET.
At the end of Trump’s news address, he walked from the White House to St. John’s Church on the opposite side of the park, where he posed briefly for photographers, holding a Bible. He was accompanied by Attorney General William Barr among others. The basement of the historic church was damaged in a fire Sunday night.
The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on behalf of Black Lives Matter D.C., and individual protesters who were in Lafayette Park on Monday evening. It seeks an order barring officials, including Barr and Secretary of Defense Mark Esper from repeating the unlawful activities, and damages for the injuries plaintiffs sustained, reported NPR.
“Across the country, law enforcement armed with military weaponry are responding with violence to people who are protesting police brutality,” said Ben Wizner, director of the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project.
“The First Amendment right to protest is under attack, and we will not let this go unanswered. This is the first of many lawsuits the ACLU intends to file across the country in response to police brutality against protesters,” Wizner further said.
Lawsuits similar to these are being filed against police authorities in the United States by journalists and demonstrators for violating their rights and attacking innocent people.
