A preposterous lawsuit demanding cops be banned from using tear gas to disperse lawless protestors who block city streets and interfere with traffic has been struck down by a judge who ruled this week that the restriction "Unnecessarily burdens the police and puts them and the public at risk." The case was filed in Virginia by a leftist civil rights group that claims the city of Richmond and its police department as well as the state police violated the Constitutional rights of law-breaking protestors by using tear gas and other crowd control tactics during a disruptive Black Lives Matter demonstration outside Richmond City Hall last week.
After midnight police determined that it was an unlawful assembly because "Conditions of activity such as sit-ins, sit-downs, blocking traffic, blocking entrances or exits of buildings that impact public safety or infrastructure." Officers announced "Multiple times" via megaphone that the blockade was an unlawful assembly and proceeded to disperse the unruly crowd by firing tear gas, flash bangs and rubber bullets.
Mayor Levar Stoney, who apologized for police firing tear gas on Black Lives Matter protestors, has recognized that cops have been "Hit with bricks, they've been hit with cinder blocks, stones and urine and other caustic material." Nevertheless, Stoney has marched with the anti-police mob to demonstrate his solidarity.
In the complaint against the city and police, protestors allege a violation of right to assemble, violation of right to freedom of speech, and violation of state code in declaring an unlawful assembly.
The leftist activists asked the court to declare that police have been operating unlawfully and to issue an order prohibiting officers from engaging in activities that supposedly violate their Constitutional rights.
"Since the tragic murder of George Floyd and the protests against police violence that have followed, state and local police operating in Richmond have shown a pattern of violence toward protesters who speak out against systemic and anti-Black racism," said Eden Heilman, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia, which filed the lawsuit.
In her ruling, Richmond City Circuit Judge Beverly W. Snukals also denies the request for an injunction broadly blocking the use of tear gas, writing that "Plaintiffs have not established that harm is certain or of such imminence that there is a clear and present need for such equitable relief." The ruling continues: "Placing these restrictions on defendants in the form of a preliminary injunction unnecessarily burdens the police and puts them and the public at risk." The ACLU blasted the decision, accusing the court of allowing police to use tear gas and "Other tools of war" against events that police declare to be unlawful assemblies without merit.
After midnight police determined that it was an unlawful assembly because "Conditions of activity such as sit-ins, sit-downs, blocking traffic, blocking entrances or exits of buildings that impact public safety or infrastructure." Officers announced "Multiple times" via megaphone that the blockade was an unlawful assembly and proceeded to disperse the unruly crowd by firing tear gas, flash bangs and rubber bullets.
Mayor Levar Stoney, who apologized for police firing tear gas on Black Lives Matter protestors, has recognized that cops have been "Hit with bricks, they've been hit with cinder blocks, stones and urine and other caustic material." Nevertheless, Stoney has marched with the anti-police mob to demonstrate his solidarity.
In the complaint against the city and police, protestors allege a violation of right to assemble, violation of right to freedom of speech, and violation of state code in declaring an unlawful assembly.
The leftist activists asked the court to declare that police have been operating unlawfully and to issue an order prohibiting officers from engaging in activities that supposedly violate their Constitutional rights.
"Since the tragic murder of George Floyd and the protests against police violence that have followed, state and local police operating in Richmond have shown a pattern of violence toward protesters who speak out against systemic and anti-Black racism," said Eden Heilman, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia, which filed the lawsuit.
In her ruling, Richmond City Circuit Judge Beverly W. Snukals also denies the request for an injunction broadly blocking the use of tear gas, writing that "Plaintiffs have not established that harm is certain or of such imminence that there is a clear and present need for such equitable relief." The ruling continues: "Placing these restrictions on defendants in the form of a preliminary injunction unnecessarily burdens the police and puts them and the public at risk." The ACLU blasted the decision, accusing the court of allowing police to use tear gas and "Other tools of war" against events that police declare to be unlawful assemblies without merit.
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