A group of protesters arrested after the sentencing of former BART Officer Johannes Mehserle say they were mistreated by police and plan to file a lawsuit.

The demonstrators were corralled in Oakland and arrested Nov. 4 without a warning to disperse and then spent the night in an Alameda County jail without ever being charged with a crime, said attorney Rachel Lederman.

Some of 150 protesters were held on a bus for up to six hours -- where some urinated on themselves because there were no bathrooms -- bound in plastic handcuffs before being booked, she added.

Lederman has filed claims, which are the precursor of a lawsuit, against 32 police agencies involved in the effort to keep control of Oakland's streets after the sentencing. San Mateo County has recommended the claim be denied by the Board of Supervisors at its meeting Tuesday.

"It was pretty much a nightmare, even though it was only a night in jail," Lederman said of the experience of the protesters, who were held between 14 and 24 hours.

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