(Corine Gatti, Headline USA) Left-wing riots were allowed to occur in Democrat-governed cities without strong resistance or consequence, and now those same professed protestors are raking in millions for their destructive actions.
Another Democrat-ruled city paid more than $5 million to Antifa and BLM protesters who broke the law after the death of George Floyd in 2020, the Daily Caller reported. Denver settled a class-action lawsuit on Aug. 23, detailing how protesters were allegedly selectively targeted for violating curfew, according to court documents.
It’s a violation of free speech to arrest violent protestors, according to the lead attorney for the violent protesters, Elizabeth Wang.
“The First Amendment does not allow police to clear the streets of protesters simply because they do not agree with their message,” Wang said in a statement. Wang didn’t address the looting, property destruction and terror her clients produced on the streets.
That was the basis for then-Democrat Denver Mayor Michael Hancock to set an 8 p.m. curfew in May 2020 while protesters obliterated the city.
Denver’s coffers must be getting low, as that was not the first lawsuit against the city. Seven protesters filed a lawsuit claiming that over 300 people were arrested for violating curfew in 2021, the Daily Caller reported.
A settlement was reached awarding upwards of $5 million to the protesters and ensuring that the city would not enforce future curfews against those engaging in First Amendment activity. In a separate case, a federal jury ordered Denver to pay $14 million in damages to a group of 12 protesters who said police violated their constitutional rights during the demonstrations.
The rioting business has proved lucrative for leftists. New York City agreed to pay over $13 million to settle a lawsuit brought on behalf of roughly 1,300 people who were arrested or beaten by police during race riots that swept through the city in the summer of 2020.
In the Bronx, the city agreed to a $13 million to settle a lawsuit by individual rioters. Philadelphia reached an agreement to pay $9.25 million to more than 200 people who were injured during the police response to protests in March.
