By Gabriela Resto-Montero
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — The NYPD allegedly violated a legal agreement when officers took photographs of protesters at a demonstration across the street from Mayor Michael Bloomberg's house last week, a lawyer for the protester's said Monday.
Police photographed the protest against Bloomberg's education policies Thursday for crowd control planning purposes, Paul J. Browne, Deputy Commissioner of Public Information for the NYPD, said in a statement.
Lawyer Norman Siegel, acting for the coaliton claimed the pictures taken at the event violated the 1985 Handschu Agreement. Under the agreement, police should only photograph and record protesters when they suspect illegal activity.
But Browne said the police acted on the advice of legal personnel and that photographs of protesters for "crowd control planning purposes" were allowed under the Handschu Agreement.
Members of the Department's legal team were also on hand during the protest to make sure the officers worked under the agreement, he said.
Siegel questioned the NYPD justification and said the demonstrators were peaceful and now feared retaliation from the Department of Education.
"We are asking for an explanation as to why they took the photographs, what they're planning to do with the photographs and whether there was any videotaping," Siegel said.
The photographers only took still pictures, according to Browne.
Siegel had not yet filed a formal complaint but was waiting for an NYPD response, he said.
