May 17, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
media@aclu.org NEW YORK -
The FBI has asked the New York Civil Liberties Union to assist in a criminal
civil rights investigation into the New York City Police Department's arrest of
protesters during the Republican National Convention.
The NYCLU,
which has agreed to assist in the investigation; has filed numerous federal
lawsuits challenging mass arrests during the Convention, the prolonged detention
of protesters charged with minor of offenses and the fingerprinting of all
protesters.
The FBI disclosed that it is conducting a
criminal investigation just one week after the Civilian Complaint Review Board,
an official agency of the City of New York, reported that hundreds of Convention
protesters may have been unnecessarily and unlawfully arrested because NYPD
officials failed to give adequate orders to disperse and failed to afford
protesters a reasonable opportunity to disperse. Police Commissioner Kelly has
rejected that report.
"Commissioner Kelly may have thought he could
ignore complaints from the civil rights community and even the Civilian
Complaint Review Board about Convention arrests, but we doubt he can ignore the
FBI," said NYCLU Associate Legal Director Christopher Dunn. "We have clear
evidence that hundreds of protesters were unlawfully arrested during the
Convention, and we look forward to assisting the FBI with its criminal
investigation."
The most dramatic example of potentially criminal
misconduct arose from the mass arrest of nearly 400 people during a
demonstration near Union Square. Criminal court complaints filed by a high-level
NYPD official claimed that group was arrested only after being given an order to
disperse and refusing to disperse, but that official admitted recently in sworn
testimony that no one gave such an order. The NYCLU, which has sued over this
mass arrest, will ask the FBI to include this incident and other incidents in
its criminal investigation.
The FBI's letter to the NYCLU is available at: www.nyclu.org/pdfs/rnc_fbi_fbi_to_nyclu_letter_051706.pdf
The NYCLU's letter to Commisioner Kelly is available at: www.nyclu.org/pdfs/rnc_fbi_nyclu_to_kelly_letter_051706.pdf
Commissioner Kelly's letter to teh CCRB is available at: www.nyclu.org/pdfs/rnc_fbi_kelly_to_ccrb_letter_051706.pdf
The CCRB's letter to Commissioer Kelly is available at: www.nyclu.org/pdfs/rnc_fbi_ccrb_to_kelly_letter_051706.pdf
