They should be held accountable' Kathleen Taylor, state ACLU executive director, said that in many cases, police displayed restraint under difficult circumstances. But she questioned using pepper spray and rubber bullets against those engaged in nonviolent civil disobedience, as well as tear gas against workers, bystanders and residents. The rights group plans to submit its own report to the city on the way demonstrations were handled. So far, the ACLU has received 132 complaints since it set up a Web site asking for accounts of excessive force or civil-liberty violations. Taylor also called upon the city to form an independent commission to probe the allegations.
People have a right to protest . . .
The ACLU sought a temporary restraining order last week against the zone, but a federal judge denied it. The council's action came as state, local and federal police agencies begin a post-mortem on the four days of police action. Joiner said reports of police aggression were overblown. There has been a lot of criticism focused on one or two incidents. In jail, Hunter said, one woman was struck in the genitals during a patdown and, when she flinched, was dragged out of a cell by her hair.