Vegetarian activists have sued in federal court two Baltimore police officers who forced them to stop leafleting at the Inner Harbor area of Baltimore.

A former Baltimore teacher and three other vegetarian activists filed the lawsuit last week in U.S. District Court over events that took place in May 2011. The lawsuit, which does not name the city nor the Police Department, alleges the officers violated their constitutional rights.

One of the plaintiffs said he and six others were passing out more than 1,000 pro-vegetarian leaflets in downtown Baltimore, near the Barnes & Noble bookstore and the National Aquarium, among other locations, when police officers ordered them to leave the area.

A plaintiff's attorney told the Baltimore Sun that his clients had no issue with city policies and therefore chose to sue the officers individually. In such cases, the city represents the officers in court and covers paying any judgments for on-duty issues.