Zombie protesters win pay out
A US city is to pay more than £100,000 compensation to seven students who were arrested for dressing up as zombies.
The seven sued Minneapolis city attorney's office after they were arrested and jailed for two days but never charged with any crime, reports the local Star Tribune.
They said they wore white face powder, fake blood and dark eye make-up in downtown Minneapolis to protest "mindless" consumerism.
The protesters were walking in a stiff, lurching fashion and carrying four bags of sound equipment to amplify music from an iPod.
Police officers who arrested them said they were carrying equipment that simulated "weapons of mass destruction."
A US District Judge dismissed the zombies' lawsuit, but it was resurrected by the Court of Appeals which concluded police lacked probable cause to arrest the seven.
That decision would have led to a federal trial this autumn had the city not agreed to pay the $165,000 (£107,000) settlement.
One of the seven zombies, Raphi Rechitsky, 27, of Minneapolis, said: "I feel great that the city is being held accountable for the actions of their police."
Mr Rechitsky, a sociology student at the University of Minnesota, said he and his friends were performing street theatre when they were arrested.
Minneapolis City Attorney Susan L. Segal said: "We believe the police acted reasonably, but you never know what a jury is going to do with a case."
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