New York, June 12 (RHC)-- New York City has settled a lawsuit over the false arrest of more than a dozen Occupy Wall Street protesters in 2011. The city will pay $583,000 to plaintiffs detained after officers surrounded them and refused to let them disperse.

One of the Occupy organizers, Jennifer Peat, called the settlement a victory for the right to protest. She said: "Public speech, the right to dissent, these are core values that are important to our democracy, and I hope that this settlement will lead those in power and the NYPD to better respect our First Amendment rights."

The settlement is New York’s largest to date in an Occupy-related civil rights case.