January 22, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
CONTACT:
media@aclu.org
NEW YORK - A federal judge today rejected the city's attempt to
block the New York Civil Liberties Union from making public extensive
information on the mass arrests and detentions that occurred during the 2004
Republic National Convention.
In a sweeping decision, federal
judge James C. Francis IV ruled that the NYCLU is free to release NYPD
documents, deposition testimony, and videotapes about all aspects of the
Convention, including mass arrests, conditions at Pier 57, and various policies
deployed by the Department during the Convention.
"The public has
an important interest in knowing what was behind the NYPD's mass arrest and
detention of protesters during the Convention," said NYCLU Associate Legal
Director Christopher Dunn, who is lead counsel on the NYCLU's Convention cases.
"Now that the federal court has rightly recognized that the NYPD's Convention
actions cannot be kept secret, we look forward to sharing these materials with
the public."
The NYCLU filed two lawsuits in October 2004
challenging mass arrest, prolonged detention, and fingerprinting of Convention
protesters. In pre-trial discovery, the NYCLU collected thousands of pages of
city documents, recorded sworn testimony of many high-level Department
officials, and obtained many NYPD videotapes taken of protest activity. City
officials attempted to prevent the NYCLU from releasing the voluminous
materials, but today's ruling clears the way for the NYCLU to make the
information public.
"It's been said that democracy dies behind
closed doors," said NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman. "We intend to keep
it alive. We will continue to fight efforts by the government to hide its
actions from pubic view."
The NYCLU said it will release the
Convention materials covered by today's ruling as soon as
possible.
More information on the Convention protests is online at:
www.rncprotestrights.org/courts-prernc.html
