MASS ARRESTS OF PROTESTORS
On the weekend of May 30-31, 2020, Phoenix Police arrested over 300 people for suspicion of participating in First Amendment protests in Downtown Phoenix. On Saturday night, they effected mass arrests, making no effort to establish probable cause for many of these people, many of whom it were apparently not even attending a protest. On Sunday night they surrounded a group of several hundred protestors on three sides, tear-gassed them, and funneled them into a residential neighborhood where tactical teams were waiting with more tear-gas and rubber bullets.
Phoenix Police have escalated the conduct in recent weeks, targeting protestors at their homes, arresting them without warrants, and searching their phones.
Although not "political prosecution" the classical sense, these efforts seemed cumulatively aimed at suppression of First Amendment and suppression of vocal police critics and activists.