WASHINGTON — A group of activists filed a civil rights lawsuit Friday against D.C. and U.S. Capitol Police claiming officers responded with “extreme and gratuitous violence” to a protest outside the Democratic National committee headquarters last November.
The protest occurred Nov. 15, 2023, while the DNC was hosting a private dinner and fundraiser at its headquarters on South Capitol Street SW. As the dinner was underway, a crowd of more than 100 protesters gathered outside to call for a ceasefire of the war in Gaza. The protesters were organized by a coalition of groups, including If Not Now and Jewish Voice for Peace Action.
The situation devolved quickly, however, with scuffles breaking out between protesters and police and reports of both sides deploying pepper spray against one another. At the time, Capitol Police said on social media their officers had “quickly introduced consequences” after protesters moved dumpsters to block exits and tried to remove bike rack barricades. At least one protester, 24-year-old Ruben Camacho, of New York, was arrested for assaulting an officer. Camacho entered to a diversion agreement with federal prosecutors earlier this year and the case was dismissed in June.
The police response to the protest drew mixed reactions at the time, with the American Civil Liberties Union’s D.C. chapter criticizing officers as “aggressive” and saying protesters weren’t given warnings or opportunities to disperse.
On Friday, nine protesters filed a lawsuit in D.C. District Court arguing police violated their First and Fourth Amendment rights. The suit names as defendants DC Police Commander Jason Bagshaw, who leads the department’s special operations division, other unnamed officers of the DC Police and U.S. Capitol Police departments and the District of Columbia.
In the suit, the protesters say officers gave them no warning to disperse before using excessive force against them – including allegedly strangling four protesters with the keffiyehs they were wearing. The plaintiffs also argue police improperly deployed chemical weapons against them, including tear gas, and that officers threw protesters down the steps of the DNC.
The lawsuit seeks a jury trial and unspecified compensatory and punitive monetary damages.
The protesters are being represented in the lawsuit by the Civil Rights Corps, a nonprofit organization that specializes in civil rights litigation. The group was part of a coalition that won a $4.5 million settlement earlier this year for thousands of people jailed by the city of Ferguson, Missouri, for not having the money to pay fines and court costs.