City pays out nearly $600,000 to Occupy Wall Street protesters

CORINNE LESTCH

The 99% just got a little bit richer.

Fourteen plaintiffs who marched through the East Village on Jan. 1, 2012, received a collective payout of $583,000, the largest Occupy Wall Street-related settlement in the city to date, lawyers said Tuesday. Individual payouts ranged from $5,000 to $20,000.

The protesters were marching from Zuccotti Park, where the movement against corporate greed was born, to E. 9th St. and Second Ave. when they were surrounded by NYPD officers on foot and on scooters, said lawyers from the firm Stecklow Cohen & Thompson, which represented them. The protesters were told to disperse, but lawyers say they were not given an exit.

"This was an unconstitutional, unlawful order," said attorney Wylie Stecklow. "The marchers were not blocking the sidewalk. After the dispersal order was made, the NYPD committed a second violation of the plaintiffs' rights by failing to grant a reasonable opportunity and path to disperse."


Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/city-pays-600-000-occupy-wall-street-protesters-blog-entry-1.1823930#ixzz34GUG1K4L