Wall Street row: Arrested NYC protesters sue police, Mayor

New York, Oct 5: A group of Wall Street protesters, who were among the over 700 people arrested here, has sued the city police and Mayor Michael Bloomberg, saying authorities violated their constitutional rights and lured them into a "premeditated" trap before detaining them at Brooklyn Bridge.

In the lawsuit filed in federal District Court in Manhattan, five of the protesters said police officers had led people onto the bridge's roadway and then prevented them from leaving the bridge on Saturday. Later, police arrested more than 700 people saying the huge crowd was disrupting traffic on the bridge.

"We believe the New York Police Department engaged in a premeditated, planned, scripted and calculated effort to get the protesters off the street," said Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, the executive director of the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund, which is representing the protesters.

The lawsuit, which also names city police commissioner Raymond Kelly, seeks to ban similar arrests in the future and is asking for unspecified damages. The 'Occupy Wall Street' movement has gathered momentum ever since the over 700 people were arrested.

Similar protests and rallies are being organised across the US, with demonstrations against corporate America being held outside federal banks and city halls in Los Angeles, Chicago and Boston among other cities. Protesters say they are in this movement for the long haul. People have camped out at Wall Street, the city's financial hub, with supporters distributing food, sleeping bags and blankets.

PTI