City responds to BLM contempt allegations

Earlier this week, the City of Seattle filed its response to allegations from Black Lives Matter and the ACLU that it should be held in contempt for violating a preliminary injunction placing restrictions on SPD’s use of crowd-control weapons. The city’s response is a strong defense to the contempt charge, but it raises many additional questions about the way that SPD handles protests.  

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Contempt charge against SPD for violating crowd-control weapon injunction inches toward evidentiary hearing

This morning U.S. District Court Judge Richard Jones held a status conference with attorneys for the ACLU, Black Lives Matter Seattle-King County and the City of Seattle. They met to hammer out some of the details of an evidentiary hearing on whether the city should be found in contempt of Jones’s preliminary injunction restricting SPD’s use of crowd-control weapons. But those details, as it turns out, are messy.

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BLM lawsuit over crowd-control devices shelved for now after parties agree on updated injunction

This morning, the City of Seattle and plaintiffs Black Lives Matter Seattle-King County and the ACLU jointly asked Judge Jones to approve an update to his earlier order on SPD’s use of crowd-control devices. Judge quickly approved it. His order also dismisses the plaintiffs’ contempt allegation, and stays the case until Judge Robart rules next month on the validity of the City Council’s ordinance banning crowd-control weapons.

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With no deal on temporary restraining order, Black Lives Matter and city face off in court tomorrow morning

Yesterday I reported that lawyers for Black Lives Matter and for the City of Seattle were trying to negotiate a mutually agreeable temporary restraining order related to the city’s use of “less lethal” weapons such as tear gas, rubber bullets and blast balls for crowd control during the ongoing protests. But having failed to reach an agreement today, the issue now heads to a hearing tomorrow morning with U.S. District Court Judge Richard Jones. In advance of that hearing, late this afternoon the city filed a brief with the city opposing the request for a temporary restraining order.

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