The L.A. City Council today settled with lawyers representing demonstrators assaulted by police officersof the LAPD's Metro Division during a 2007 immigration-rights rally in MacArthur Park. The council unanimously voted to approve a $12.85 payout to clear the books of nine separate lawsuits involving about 200 litigants who either claimed to have been clubbed or shot with rubber bullets on that May Day, or who felt emotionally shaken by witnessing their parents or children being attacked. (A separate case involving beaten journalists covering the rally is making its way through the state courts.)

The settlement is the latest ka-ching in what seems to be an endless ringing of payouts to citizens or officers claiming to have been victimized by the city. Only last week the council agreed to pay $20.5 million to four cops who said they'd been falsely charged in the aftermath of the LAPD Rampart Division scandal. KPCC FM's Patt Morrison's February 4 show features an in-depth interview with reporter Frank Stoltze about the settlement. (Scroll to “City Council Announces May Day Melee Settlement.”)

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