Inauguration Day arrests called overreach

Lawyers: 2 journalists, observers were seized

Some innocent observers, including two journalists, were improperly swept up in a group of 230 people arrested after self-described anti-capitalists began breaking windows in Washington on Inauguration Day, lawyers said.

The group was charged Saturday with felony rioting, punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $25,000.

Protesters smashed the windows of an emergency vehicle as well as windows at a Starbucks and two banks and set fire to a limousine, court documents said.

The total damage done by the anarchist group was over $100,000, court documents said.

City law says that if, in the course of a riot, a person is seriously injured or there is property damage of more than $5,000, “every person who willfully incited or urged others to engage in the riot” can be charged with felony rioting.

But on Sunday, Mark Goldstone, a lawyer representing about 50 of those arrested, said police “basically identified a location that had problems and arrested everyone in that location.” He said there were not 230 people engaged in conduct that merited a felony rioting charge and called the charges an overreach.

“They arrested everyone in a single location including reporters, lawyers, law students, and non-riotous protesters,” Goldstone said.

Police did not immediately respond Sunday to a request for comment by The Associated Press. But interim Police Chief Peter Newsham told radio station WTOP on Sunday that he was “very, very pleased” with the way police responded to demonstrations Friday.

Police have said they used pepper spray and rubber “sting balls” to control the crowd where arrests were made.