February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Patrick Markey
A group of Irish-American activists is suing the New York Police Department and New York City over what they claim was punitive policing practices during a protest against the acquittal of the four officers who shot an unarmed African immigrant.
The suit, which also names New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, has been filed by 12 activists who took part in a protest outside the Police Academy on Feb. 28, according to a press release from the Ad Hoc Irish Coalition.
The demonstration was to protest the acquittal of the four officers who shot Amadou Diallo as he stood in the vestibule of his Bronx home.
The suit charges that the police department, the mayor, the city and the police commissioner violated the complainants’ civil rights and unlawfully held demonstrators, the release states.
"It was unbelievable. People were assembled peacefully on the sidewalk, discussing an issue of real importance and the police chief announced everybody was under arrest," according to Molly Doherty, a third-year CUNY law student who, the release says, witnessed the arrests.
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Lawyers for the city declined to comment on the suit which a spokeswoman said she had not seen. Representatives of the complainants could not be reached for comment by press time.