The Biden administration agreed to change U.S. Park Police and Secret Service policies to settle four lawsuits over the violent removal of Black Lives Matter protesters from a park near the White House when former President Donald Trump was in office.
The Department of Justice settlement bars the agencies from revoking protest permits absent “clear and present danger to the public safety” or rampant lawbreaking that could lead to widespread injuries or property damage, the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups said in a statement Wednesday.
“The use of tear gas and rubber bullets will never be enough to silence our voices or diminish our duty to demand an end to police violence against Black communities,” April Goggans, lead organizer of Black Lives Matter for the District of Columbia, said in the ACLU statement. “Today marks a win for the ongoing resistance against all attempts to subvert dissent.”
