Major Victory for Free Speech in Landmark SettlementBy Claire Bernish In a statement, PCJF Executive Director Mara Verheyden-Hilliard said, If you have ever attended a demonstration where police encircled the crowd, preventing movement into or out of the area for any reason sometimes for hours at a time often in order to perform massive and indiscriminate arrests, then you have been kettled. On September 27, 2002, demonstrators gathered in Pershing Park in Washington DC during meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. US Park Police coordinated with DC Metropolitan Police to cordon off the park, refused access in or out, then arrested everyone who happened to be trapped inside, including 649 protesters, bystanders, journalists, legal observers, and even tourists 400 of whom were represented in the class action suit. According to the PCJF statement, Many were held bound wrist to ankle in stress-and-duress positions on a police gym floor for upwards of 24 hours. Though not a monetarily significant settlement, just $2.2 million, the resulting reforms to procedural policy regarding protest are vital considering the ever-widening activist and awareness movement. Police are no longer allowed to generally cordon off a demonstration, must give fair notice to disperse through a minimum of three clearly audible warnings at least two minutes apart, must indicate avenues of exit for complying with that dispersal order, and may not affect sweeping arrests.Instead, cops must provide detailed probable cause before any legal arrest can be made and all of these policies must include inter-jurisdictional cooperation. In other words, this is huge. The US Attorneys Office signed a memorandum with PCJF calling the new procedural policies, a model of best practices for law enforcement which will serve future generations, and could easily be transferred for use around the country. Carl Messineo, PCJF Legal Director, explained the significance in a statement: Previous litigation declared all arrests null and void with orders for the FBI to fully expunge arrestees records from all criminal databases and awarded $8.25 million in compensation. A side note on this case offers striking insight: This egregious violation of constitutional rights and mass illegal arrests was orchestrated by DC MPD Chief Charles H Ramsey who had the command at the scene and who now works on President Obamas Task Force on 21st Century Policing. Claire Bernish writes for TheAntiMedia.org, where this article first appeared. Tune in! The Anti-Media radio show airs Monday through Friday @ 11pm Eastern/8pm Pacific. 