Washington DC - A group of former FBI agents filed a lawsuit on Monday claiming they were unlawfully fired for kneeling during a 2020 racial justice protest in Washington DC.

The 12 agents were fired earlier this year by FBI Director Kash Patel, who has been accused of purging the bureau's ranks of agents perceived as being disloyal to President Donald Trump.

The lawsuit filed by the agents – nine women and three men – in a federal court in Washington seeks their reinstatement and names Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi as defendants.

In their complaint, the agents, who filed the suit anonymously, recounted the circumstances in the capital on the day they took a knee.

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It was June 4, 2020, less than two weeks after the murder of George Floyd by a white Minneapolis police officer sparked nationwide racial justice protests.

The FBI agents, who had a background in counterintelligence and counterterrorism, were deployed by the bureau in a "powder keg" downtown Washington without the "training, protective gear, or less-than-lethal munitions that would enable them to engage in crowd control," they said.

"They were confronted by a mob that included hostile individuals alongside families with young children," the lawsuit claims, and "made a considered tactical decision" to take a knee – a "de-escalation response" which the agents insist helped avoid potential clashes.

They said their actions were reviewed and cleared by the FBI and Justice Department at the time.

More than five years later, the agents received dismissal letters from Patel accusing them of "unprofessional conduct and a lack of impartiality in carrying out duties, leading to the political weaponization of government."

The suit is the latest against the FBI by a former agent alleging unjust dismissal by Patel, whose leadership of the agency has come under fire. David Maltinsky, a gay 16-year FBI veteran, filed a lawsuit last month claiming he was unlawfully fired from the bureau for displaying a gay pride flag at his desk.