A group of human rights lawyers released a report saying that the NYPD used excessive force, made unjustified arrests and used pervasive surveillance. The report is from the Global Justice Clinic at New York University’s School of Law and the Walter Leitner International Human Rights Clinic at Fordham Law School, and says multiple occasions of the officers’ use of force was not justified possibly violating the legal restrictions on police monitoring of protests, known as the “Handschu Guidelines.” The report also said journalists were subjected to unfair treatment, most notably in being banned from the raid the cleared Zuccotti Park last November. All told, the report cites 130 instances of alleged abuse by the New York Police Department. Paul Browne, the NYPD’s chief spokesman, denied that his organization did anything wrong, saying, “The NYPD accommodated lawful protests and made arrests when laws were broken, and showed restraint in doing so” …
