Twelve former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents who were fired after kneeling during a 2020 Black Lives Matter (BLM) protest in Washington, D.C., are now suing the agency in an attempt to get their jobs back, according to news coverage.
In September, the FBI fired several agents who were photographed taking a knee during a BLM protest in the nation’s capital in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd, on May 25, 2020, the Associated Press (AP) reported, citing three anonymous sources. The former agents claim in a lawsuit filed on Monday that FBI Director Kash Patel unlawfully ousted them because they were seen as not being aligned politically with President Donald Trump, the AP reported.
The FBI declined to comment on pending litigation.
The fired FBI agents are now claiming in the lawsuit that they knelt during the protest not as a form of political expression, but instead were aiming to defuse a situation that was potentially at risk of escalating, NPR reported on Monday, citing court papers.
“Mindful of the potentially catastrophic consequences, Plaintiffs knew that a split-second misjudgment by any of them could ignite an already-charged national climate and trigger further violence and unrest,” according to the lawsuit, which was filed by attorneys with the Washington Litigation Group, NPR reported.
The agents also allege in the lawsuit that they had not been provided with “sufficient equipment for responding to civil unrest such as riot shields, gas masks, helmets, or other tactical gear” during the 2020 protest, CBS News reported on Monday.
Additionally, the lawsuit claims that the former agents were attempting to “prevent” a “potentially deadly confrontation with American citizens” that could have “rivaled” the Boston Massacre, a confrontation between American colonists and the British Army in the run-up to the American Revolution that left five colonists dead.
“Plaintiffs were performing their duties as FBI Special Agents, employing reasonable de-escalation to prevent a potentially deadly confrontation with American citizens: a Washington Massacre that could have rivaled the Boston Massacre in 1770,” the lawsuit states, according to the AP.
Floyd died after former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on his neck for about nine minutes in May 2020. Floyd’s death sparked a wave of destructive riots, violent crime and looting in major cities nationwide, and also reportedly contributed to anti-police attitudes among some Americans.
In April 2021, Chauvin was found guilty on all three charges against him for killing Floyd, CNN reported.
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