The New York Civil Liberties Union has filed two lawsuits in federal court claiming that hundreds were illegally arrested and detained during protests at the Republican National Convention in August. More than 1,800 people were arrested during the four-day convention held in New York City, many either near the World Trade Center site or Union Square on Aug. 31.

The suits allege that in addition to wrongly arresting many people, New York police held those arrested longer than allowed and fingerprinted many who were only accused of minor crimes. Earlier this week, the Manhattan district attorney dismissed charges against 227 protesters of blocking traffic near the World Trade Center site. Read the DA's statement about the protesters. AP has more.

UPDATE: The complaints from both suits are now availabe online. View them here [PDF] and here [PDF]. The NYCLU has a press release.

Previously on JURIST's Paper Chase....

• Judge releases hundreds of protesters, 19 more arrested
• Protester arrests reach 1,500 at Republican National Convention
• Lawyers group protests police treatment of observers at RNC demonstration