New York to pay $13 million to protesters arrested during George Floyd protests

NEW YORK, Jul 20 (Reuters) – New York City has agreed to pay $13 million to hundreds of people arrested during the 2020 George Floyd protests, according to lawyers for the plaintiffs, who said it was the largest class action settlement ever paid to protesters in the United States.

Protests in New York City and across the country followed the May 25, 2020 death of Floyd, an unarmed black man killed by a Minneapolis police officer who knelt on Floyd’s neck for about nine minutes as he repeatedly yelled for help, saying “I can’t breathe.”

The city agreed Wednesday to pay $9,950 each to more than 1,300 protesters arrested by NYPD officers during various protests between May 28 and June 4, 2020, according to a statement from attorneys for the plaintiffs.

“While achieving the financial integrity of large numbers of protesters is a huge victory to celebrate, city taxpayers will need to continue shelling out millions until City Hall stops caving in to the worst violent whims of the NYPD,” Remy Green, one of the plaintiff attorneys, said in a statement, referring to the NYPD.

People arrested on other charges, such as arson or destruction of property, will be excluded from the agreement, which still requires the approval of US District Court Judge Colleen McMahon.

The NYPD said in a statement that it had improved numerous practices for handling protests like those that have taken place during the pandemic.

“The City and the New York Police Department remain committed to ensuring that the public is safe and that people’s right to peaceful expression is protected,” he said.

Protesters at 18 locations, including Union Square, Central Park and Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn, were subjected to the misuse of pepper spray, excessive force with batons and other illegal tactics such as “kettling,” according to court documents.

Kettling is a tactic in which police herd protesters into a tight space or surround them, effectively trapping them.

Batons, pepper spray and other chemical irritants, and even bicycles, were used forcefully against protesters, according to court documents.

“The harmful realities we protested in 2020 persist. Black and brown people are disproportionately harassed, prosecuted, imprisoned and killed by police,” Savitri Durkee, one of the named plaintiffs, said in a statement.

In a separate agreement in March, New York agreed to pay an estimated $7 million to more than 300 people arrested during a June 4, 2020 demonstration in the Bronx borough of New York.

Reporting by Rachel Nostrant in New York; Edited by Aurora Ellis

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