Students Will Sue N.H. Police For Violations of Civil Rights During Anti-Nuclear Protest

Twelve Harvard students will file a lawsuit on Thursday against the state of New Hampshire and its state police, charging that the students were "clubbed and maced" in an unnecessarily violent "violation of their civil right to protest" at the Seabrook nuclear power plant, Kevin Powers, attorney for the group and member of the Seabrook Coalition for Direct Action, said yesterday.

A group of 20 to 25 Harvard students were sitting with arms linked, singing songs on a hill outside the fence of the plant on Sunday, October 7, when the police approached, Powers said. In the ensuing encounter, several students suffered "physical injury" and one was hospitalized with a concussion and fractured hand, he added, decling to identify the students involved.

All the King's Men

New Hampshire governor Hugh Gallen, attorney general Thomas Rath, the National Guard and the state police of six New England states are also likely to be named as defendants in the lawsuit, Powers said, adding that Gallen and Rath may be named as co-defendents because of public statements they have made condoning the police tactics at Seabrook. He estimated that the students would seek compensatory and punitive damages amounting to "several hundred thousand dollars."

Deprivation of Rights?

Although Powers believes that the students did not trespass on the property of the Seabrook power plant, he said the suit would assert that the lawful remedy to suspected trespass is arrest and legal prosecution. The police used tactics justified only in cases where arrest is resisted, he said, adding that the tactics used constituted "police misconduct" and "deprivation of the right to due process."

No Carte Blanche

Powers said the students will press charges because "the public should know" what occured, and because the "violators of rights should be punished, to deter similar action at other protests, "We're looking toward the future," he said, adding, "if no action is brought, the police will have a carte blanche in the future." He also said he believes the students are entitled to monetary compensation for both "pain and suffering" and the violation of their rights.