New York State Attorney General Leticia James has filed a lawsuit in federal court alleging that New York City Police officers have practiced abusive and illegal procedures that violated people’s civil rights, NBC News reports.

James seeks a federal oversight board to review NYPD practices, which she said came into the national spotlight during enforcement efforts at this year’s civil rights marches following police killings of unarmed Black people around the country.

In a Thursday press conference, James said that during those protests, police officers “repeatedly and without justification used batons, fist strikes, pepper spray, and other physical force” against protesters.

One incident mentioned in the press conference was the pepper spraying of a young Black man who was standing peacefully with his armed raised during a protest.  A police officer approaches him and lowers the young man’s facemask, worn for coronavirus protection, and sprays him in the face with a chemical irritant.

“That’s why we are seeking systemic reforms to the NYPD and the installation of a monitor to oversee the NYPD’s policing tactics in future protests and to ensure they are complying with the law,” James said. “With today’s lawsuit, this longstanding pattern of brutal and illegal force ends.”

The lawsuit follows actions by civil rights groups like the ACLU’s New York affiliate and the Legal Aid Society, as well as a review of practices by the city’s own Department of Investigation–similar to an Inspector General’s office–which issued a 111-page report on alleged police abuse.

“The NYPD’s use of force and certain crowd control tactics to respond to the Floyd protests produced excessive enforcement that contributed to heightened tensions,” the Department of Investigation’s report found.