New York City agrees to pay $13 million to 2020 racial injustice protesters in historic class action

From the Associated Press

New York City has agreed to pay more than $13 million to settle a civil rights lawsuit brought on behalf of roughly 1,300 people who were arrested or beaten by police during racial injustice demonstrations that swept through the city during the summer of 2020.

If approved by a judge, the settlement, which was filed in Manhattan federal court Wednesday, would be among the most expensive payouts ever awarded in a lawsuit over mass arrests, experts said.

The lawsuit focused on 18 of the many protests that erupted in New York City in the week following the killing of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis. With certain exceptions, people arrested or subjected to force by NYPD officers at those events will each be eligible for $9,950 in compensation, according to attorneys for the plaintiffs.

The agreement, one of several stemming from the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, allows the city to avoid a trial that could be both expensive and politically fraught.

It comes as many other cities across the U.S. are negotiating their own settlements with protesters who spilled into the streets to decry racist police brutality after Floyd’s death, a period of unrest that saw 10,000 people arrested in the span of a few days.

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Usually, reparations refer to slavery.

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