Protesters who used chalk to express their distaste for the use of force by local police officers were arrested in July for defacing sidewalks at Metro headquarters, but then their criminal charges were dropped.
Several, however, now intend to sue because they say their First Amendment right to free speech was violated. Sections of their sidewalk commentary called police "pigs" and "murderers," a reference to several controversial shootings by police of unarmed or low-threat criminal suspects.
Until the arrests, members of a group calling itself the Sunset Activist Collective had been chalking remarks of protest every second Saturday of the month at the police headquarters, without incident.
Robert Langford, Las Vegas attorney for three chalk protesters