US rights activists have sued the city of St. Louis, Missouri, over police’s violent treatment of protestors during a series of rallies sparked by the acquittal of a white officer accused of killing an African American man.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)’s Missouri branch filed the civil rights lawsuit in US district court in St. Louis on Friday.
The statement named Maleeha Ahmad, Alison Dreith and “a class of similarly situated individuals” as plaintiffs who were maltreated by officers.
“Everyone deserves the same rights as I do. I just want peace and justice,” Ahmad, who was pepper sprayed by police without warning, said in a statement.
The lawsuit asked the court for an order requiring St. Louis to respect the right to freedom of speech and refrain from arbitrarily declaring assemblies unlawful.
“Unfortunately, we are seeing a lack of respect on First Amendment rights,” said Jeffrey Mittman, ACLU of Missouri’s executive…