NEW YORK, Oct. 19 (UPI) -- New York City bicyclists have won a settlement from the city in a lawsuit claiming they were wrongly detained and arrested by police officers, observers say.

The city agreed Monday to pay nearly $1 million to settle the claims of 83 riders arrested or ticketed by police during the so-called Critical Mass rides through Manhattan on the last Friday of each month, The New York Times reported.


Critical Mass riders and New York City police have long been at odds. Riders say police harass them, confiscate their bicycles and arrest them. Police say the riders violate traffic laws.

Awards in the settlement range from $500 for riders cited for minor infractions to as much as $35,000 for a bicyclist arrested multiple times and injured because of the arrests, said David B. Rankin, one of the lawyers representing the riders.

The settlement was "in the best interest of all the parties," said Mark Zuckerman, a lawyer for the city.

Barbara Ross, arrested in 2005 on charges of parading without a permit and disorderly conduct and who will receive about $15,000 in the settlement, said although the police have changed tactics, Critical Mass participants still were being harassed.

"They're still wasting taxpayers' money to show up every month," Ross said of the police, who have used hundreds of officers, a mobile command center and a helicopter to monitor the mass rides.