New Orleans, July 19 (RHC)-- The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU, is suing the Baton Rouge Police Department for violating the First Amendment rights of demonstrators there last week. 

There have been regular demonstrations outside the Baton Rouge Police Department since the fatal police shooting of Alton Sterling last week.  Despite the peaceful nature of the protests, police in Baton Rouge made more than 200 arrests last weekend.

Demonstrators have accused police of using excessive force, wrongful arrests, and both physical and verbal abuse to break up the protests.

The ACLU suit was filed in U.S. District Court on behalf of community organizations like Black Youth Power 100 New Orleans, New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice, and Louisiana Chapter of the National Lawyers’ Guild.  In the suit, the ACLU contends that police escalated “a nonviolent protest into a full-scale conflict between the citizens and the police.”