Legal experts differed yesterday on whether police exceeded their authority by arresting a large group of anti-capitalist protesters for the actions or theats made by a few.
Most of the complaints about Friday's arrests seemed to center on events in Pershing Park, at 15th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW. There, several hundred people, including protesters who had marched from elsewhere in downtown, participants in a "bicycle strike" and curious bystanders were gradually encircled and arrested.
"You've got to arrest people on the basis of their individual violations of law," said Herman Schwartz, a law professor at American University. "You can't just sort of surround a public park and say, 'Everyone in here, you're presumed to be prepared to shut down the city.' "
Seems pretty clear-cut to me.
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