Attorneys representing more than 200 plaintiffs in several lawsuits alleging police brutality in the city’s response to protests over the death of George Floyd marked the one-year anniversary of those incidents on Tuesday.
Following the killing of Floyd by Minneapolis police on May 25, 2020, mass protests erupted in Philadelphia and other major cities, leading to clashes with police. Here, officials ordered the deployment of tear gas and rubber bullets to clear both protesters and looters during unrest on 52nd Street in West Philadelphia, an action that saw riot police and gas spill into nearby residential areas. Later, police also used gas and pepper spray to clear a march that shut down Interstate 676 near Center City.
In the aftermath, city officials later stated that protests on I-676 had turned violent, but reporting showed those claims were false, and Mayor Jim Kenney later apologized for the incident. Several independent reports concluded that police were unprepared for the protests and botched responses to mass unrest, while hundreds ultimately filed suit against the city over the incidents.
“The irony is not lost on us that those protesting police brutality were met with police brutality,” attorney Riley Ross said at a Tuesday press conference.