ACLU challenges DC police response to summer protests on Swann Street
WASHINGTON (FOX 5 DC) - The ACLU of the District of Columbia has published a report detailing the mass arrest of protesters violating curfew on Swann Street NW on June 1, 2020, saying the Metropolitan Police Department "should have acted with greater restraint."
The report also says D.C. council should "consider whether D.C. law or policy should be changed to promote a more restrained police response to peaceful protests in the District."
The ACLU says MPD deployed significant force when policing the protests on Swann Street that took place in the summer of 2020 in the wake of the death of George Floyd.
The report is based on interviews with eyewitnesses, according to the ACLU.
The D.C. Police Union released a statement on the ACLU's Swann Street report, saying it is "completely one-sided and has no basis in reality."
The statement goes on to claim that the incident on Swann Street involved multiple cars being set on fire, bricks being thrown at officers and residents calling 911 to report that their front doors had been kicked in. It also says that none of this information is mentioned in the ACLU's report.
"As we have said every time there is riotous activity in the District, police officers will support everyone’s right to express their First Amendment Rights in this city," the statement reads. "We will even risk our own safety to protect other’s right to do so. However, criminal activity and violence is not a protected right, and we will do everything within our legal authority to stop it."