NEW YORK CITY: Pepper-Sprayed Occupy Wall Street Protesters Sue The NYPD

Two women who were pepper-sprayed by the NYPD as they were held inside a protesters pen have filed a lawsuit. The incident was caught live by local news cameras and the video instantly went globally viral, fueling other Occupy protests around the nation.

Chelsea Elliott and Jeanne Mansfield are suing Deputy Inspector Anthony Bologna in Manhattan Federal Court for blasting them in the face with pepper-spray during a protest last Sept. 24 near Union Square. Bologna was docked 10 days of vacation for violating NYPD regulations. In an interview Monday, Mansfield, 24, a Boston writer, said she was suing because she wanted to put the NYPD on notice that what Bologna did was wrong. "I was attending a peaceful demonstration when I was met with what I feel was an undue amount of force," she said. Mansfield said she is sympathetic to police in general but said she didn't deserve to be pepper-sprayed. "

The suit claims that the women's right to free assembly and free speech were violated by the attack.

NYPD Breaks Up HRC Gala Protest

Despite having been given assurances that they could peaceably protest on the sidewalk outside Manhattan's glitzy Waldorf-Astoria, on Saturday the NYPD broke up the Occupy Wall Street demonstration during the Human Rights Campaign $650/plate gala to honor Goldman Sachs. Via press release:

In NYC Saturday night, February 4, 2012, approximately 80 LGBT grassroots activists from a variety of groups united in common cause and elaborate demonstration to tell HRC: You do not speak for us. Starting at dusk, chanting voices filled Park Avenue as tuxedo-sporting HRC donors arrived at the Waldorf Astoria: “Hey Hey HRC. Where is our equality?” -- and -- “Everyone pays their tax. Everyone but Goldman Sachs” – rang out repeatedly targeting the Gala’s corporate honoree. Up and down the block between 49th and 50th, a catwalk of activists paraded, picket-fashion-show style, sporting a shimmery 15 x 5 banner that read: SEEK FULL EQUALITY, big mylar letters spelling “HELP,” and a huge sign that read: “HRC is in BED with A SACHS Machine”. Occupy Wall Street locked it all together in what was truly an inspirational convergence of NYC's grassroots, and beyond.

Cops moved the protesters across the street to a location where the black-tie crowd could not hear their chants. Still some protesters entered the Waldorf lobby to make their case. Some gala attendees reportedly mocked the protest via Twitter. (I'm looking for those tweets.) Many more photos of the action are on the group's Flickr page.