PHILADELPHIA — For seven weeks in 2011, Occupy Philadelphia protesters camped out in a park next to City Hall to call attention to economic inequality. Police swarmed the plaza, arresting 52 people.
The protesters struck back. Attorney Larry Krasner filed a lawsuit against the city and police, alleging that the protesters had been unlawfully arrested. The city ultimately agreed to settle the case for $200,000.
That was then. Krasner, who has defended activists and criminal defendants over a 30-year career, is now preparing for a new role as Philadelphia’s top prosecutor. He assumes the office of district attorney Tuesday.
The election of Krasner, a longtime champion of individuals fighting the status quo, is viewed by many in Philadelphia as a long overdue step toward fighting corruption and injustice in a metropolis that jails people at a rate more than twice the national average and whose previous district attorney pleaded guilty to federal bribery charges.