CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : SACRAMENTO : Operation Rescue Seeks $1.98 Million

Operation Rescue announced that it has filed a $1.98-million claim against city officials in Sacramento for damages suffered by 33 anti-abortion demonstrators who were sprayed with Mace by police during a July protest. “We want to send a message to the police departments, and to the city and county authorities of this state, that they will be held accountable for all abuses of peaceful, pro-life demonstrators,” said Operation Rescue lawyer Cyrus Zal. Sacramento County Dist. Atty. Steve White decided not to file criminal charges against three police officers who sprayed Mace over the heads of hymn-singing demonstrators, some of whom were women with young children. He said the use of force was legal and that anti-abortion protesters had broken the law by blocking the entrance to a women’s health clinic.