Black Lives Matter Los Angeles and other protesters filed a federal lawsuit this week against the city of Santa Monica over its response to the mass demonstrations that followed George Floyd’s killing in Minneapolis last year.
The lawsuit, which was filed Monday and seeks class-action status, accuses the city and the Santa Monica Police Department of using excessive force against protesters, arresting them without justification and subjecting them to inhumane conditions while detained.
It also alleges that the department unjustly focused on peaceful protesters while ignoring individuals who were burglarizing stores and committing other crimes nearby, and misused emergency curfew orders to clear the streets of legitimate demonstrators.
“By preemptively banning peaceful assemblies, kettling the demonstrators, subjecting them to unlawful force, arresting and detaining them tightly handcuffed on buses for hours, without access to bathrooms, water, or food,” the city violated the protesters’ constitutional rights, the lawsuit claims.
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