The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania filed a federal lawsuit on September 21, 2010, on behalf of 25 people who were swept up in a mass arrest of demonstrators, observers, and passersby in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh hours after the G-20 Summit ended on September 25, 2009. The ACLU argues that police illegally disrupted a peaceful gathering and arrested people who were trying to obey a police order to disperse. The lawsuit alleges police used excessive force during the arrests, gratuitously squirting people with pepper spray and shooting them with pepper-ball bullets. Those arrested were held overnight in tight handcuffs, with some forced to sit outside for hours in the cold and rain in the prison courtyard.
Press Releases
- City of Pittsburgh Settles G-20 Case Involving Mass Arrest on University of Pittsburgh Campus- 02/14/13
- City of Pittsburgh Settles G-20 Lawsuits- 11/14/12
- City of Pittsburgh Settles with 11 Illegally Arrested During 2009 G-20 Summit- 01/10/12
- ACLU Sues City Of Pittsburgh Over G-20 Mass Arrests- 09/21/10
