The Seattle Civil Division of the American Civil Liberties Association and Black Lives Matter filed a federal lawsuit in Seattle in an effort to “stop the use of chemical agents and bullets on protesters immediately”.
The lawsuit filed in Washington’s West Region today argued that police use chemical agents and bullets for crowd control violated the First and Fourth Amendments.
“Mayor Durkan and Chief Best did not take enough action by SPD officers to address the ongoing violations of the protesters’ constitutional rights,” the complaint said. “Even if they accepted that the majority of the protesters were peaceful, they continued to allow less lethal force to control the demonstrations.”
“It is unacceptable for the Seattle Police Department to respond to these demonstrations with more force, including using tear gas and flashbang grenades,” Livio De La Cruz, a Seattle-King County board member, Black Lives Matter. Said.
The case asks the court to issue an emergency order that prohibits the use of “less lethal weapons to control and suppress demonstrations”.
Less lethal weapons include “chemical irritants, batons, kinetic impact shells, and light and sound stun guns”.
“This is one of many cases that ACLU plans to apply across the country to protect our right to peacefully protest,” said ACLU personnel lawyer Vera Eidelman.
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