G20 Pittsburgh Today: Black Bloc, Tear Gas, Cops Etc
MR | 24.09.2009 22:44 | Repression | Social Struggles | Workers' Movements | World
PITTSBURGH — Police fired canisters of pepper spray and smoke at marchers protesting the Group of 20 summit Thursday after anarchists responded to calls to disperse by rolling trash bins and throwing rocks. The march turned chaotic at just about the time that President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama arrived for a meeting with leaders of the world's major economies.
The clashes began after hundreds of protesters, many advocating against capitalism, tried to march from an outlying neighborhood toward the convention center where the summit is being held.
The protesters banged on drums and chanted "Ain't no power like the power of the people, 'cause the power of the people don't stop."
The marchers included small groups of self-described anarchists, some wearing dark clothes and bandanas and carrying black flags. Others wore helmets and safety goggles.
One banner read, "No borders, no thanks," another, "No hope in capitalism." A few minutes into the march, protesters unfurled a large banner reading "NO BAILOUT NO CAPITALISM" with an encircled "A," a recognized sign of anarchists.
The marchers did not have a permit and, after a few blocks, police declared it an unlawful assembly. They played an announcement over a loudspeaker telling people to leave or face arrest and then police in riot gear moved in to break it up.
Protesters split into smaller groups. Some rolled large metal trash bins toward police, and a man in a black hooded sweat shirt threw rocks at a police car, breaking the front windshield. Protesters broke windows in a few businesses, including a bank branch and a Boston Market restaurant.
Officers fired pepper spray and smoke at the protesters. Some of those exposed to the pepper spray coughed and complained that their eyes were watering and stinging.
Police were planning a news conference to discuss their response. Officers were seen taking away a handful of protesters in cuffs.
About an hour after the clashes started, the police and protesters were at a standoff. Police sealed off main thoroughfares to downtown.
Twenty-one-year-old Stephon Boatwright, of Syracuse, N.Y., wore a mask of English anarchist Guy Fawkes and yelled at a line of riot police. He then sat cross-legged near the officers, telling them to let the protesters through and to join their cause.
"You're actively suppressing us. I know you want to move," Boatwright yelled, to applause from the protesters gathered around him.
Protesters complained that the march had been peaceful and that police were trampling on their right to assemble.
"We were barely even protesting," said T.J. Amick, 22, of Pittsburgh. "Then all of a sudden, they come up and tell us we're gathered illegally and start using force, start banging their shields, start telling us we're going to be arrested and tear gassed. ... We haven't broken any laws."
Bret Hatch, 26, of Green Bay, Wis., was carrying an American flag and a "Don't Tread on Me" flag.
"This is ridiculous. We have constitutional rights to free speech," he said.
The National Lawyer's Guild, a liberal legal-aid group, said one of its observers, a second year law student, was among those arrested. Its representatives were stationed among the protesters, wearing green hats.
"I think he was totally acting according to the law. I don't think he was provoking anyone at all," said Joel Kupferman, a member of the guild. "It's really upsetting because he's here to serve, to make sure everyone else can be protected. ... It's a sign that they are out of control."
The march had begun at a city park, where an activist from New York City, dressed in a white suit with a preacher's collar, started it off with a speech through a bullhorn.
"They are not operating on Earth time. ... They are accommodating the devil," he said. "To love democracy and to love the earth is to be a radical now."
The activist, Billy Talen, travels the country preaching against consumerism. He initially identified himself as "the Rev. Billy from the Church of Life After Shopping."
The G-20 summit was beginning Thursday evening with a welcome ceremony at the Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Garden and ends late Friday afternoon after a day of meetings at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center.
Dignitaries were arriving in waves and were heading to a city under heavy security. Police and National Guard troops guarded many downtown intersections, and a maze of tall metal fences and concrete barriers shunted cars and pedestrians.
Hundreds of police in riot gear were seen massing at Phipps, but only a handful of demonstrators were there.
Associated Press Report
Pic Gallery:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5izJGY1GNeNYgNG6q1N0bsXCVfBeAD9ATURNO0
News report:
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/G20-Summit-In-Pittsburgh-Police-Fire-Tear-Gas-As-They-Break-Up-Violent-Protests/Article/200909415388868
The protesters banged on drums and chanted "Ain't no power like the power of the people, 'cause the power of the people don't stop."
The marchers included small groups of self-described anarchists, some wearing dark clothes and bandanas and carrying black flags. Others wore helmets and safety goggles.
One banner read, "No borders, no thanks," another, "No hope in capitalism." A few minutes into the march, protesters unfurled a large banner reading "NO BAILOUT NO CAPITALISM" with an encircled "A," a recognized sign of anarchists.
The marchers did not have a permit and, after a few blocks, police declared it an unlawful assembly. They played an announcement over a loudspeaker telling people to leave or face arrest and then police in riot gear moved in to break it up.
Protesters split into smaller groups. Some rolled large metal trash bins toward police, and a man in a black hooded sweat shirt threw rocks at a police car, breaking the front windshield. Protesters broke windows in a few businesses, including a bank branch and a Boston Market restaurant.
Officers fired pepper spray and smoke at the protesters. Some of those exposed to the pepper spray coughed and complained that their eyes were watering and stinging.
Police were planning a news conference to discuss their response. Officers were seen taking away a handful of protesters in cuffs.
About an hour after the clashes started, the police and protesters were at a standoff. Police sealed off main thoroughfares to downtown.
Twenty-one-year-old Stephon Boatwright, of Syracuse, N.Y., wore a mask of English anarchist Guy Fawkes and yelled at a line of riot police. He then sat cross-legged near the officers, telling them to let the protesters through and to join their cause.
"You're actively suppressing us. I know you want to move," Boatwright yelled, to applause from the protesters gathered around him.
Protesters complained that the march had been peaceful and that police were trampling on their right to assemble.
"We were barely even protesting," said T.J. Amick, 22, of Pittsburgh. "Then all of a sudden, they come up and tell us we're gathered illegally and start using force, start banging their shields, start telling us we're going to be arrested and tear gassed. ... We haven't broken any laws."
Bret Hatch, 26, of Green Bay, Wis., was carrying an American flag and a "Don't Tread on Me" flag.
"This is ridiculous. We have constitutional rights to free speech," he said.
The National Lawyer's Guild, a liberal legal-aid group, said one of its observers, a second year law student, was among those arrested. Its representatives were stationed among the protesters, wearing green hats.
"I think he was totally acting according to the law. I don't think he was provoking anyone at all," said Joel Kupferman, a member of the guild. "It's really upsetting because he's here to serve, to make sure everyone else can be protected. ... It's a sign that they are out of control."
The march had begun at a city park, where an activist from New York City, dressed in a white suit with a preacher's collar, started it off with a speech through a bullhorn.
"They are not operating on Earth time. ... They are accommodating the devil," he said. "To love democracy and to love the earth is to be a radical now."
The activist, Billy Talen, travels the country preaching against consumerism. He initially identified himself as "the Rev. Billy from the Church of Life After Shopping."
The G-20 summit was beginning Thursday evening with a welcome ceremony at the Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Garden and ends late Friday afternoon after a day of meetings at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center.
Dignitaries were arriving in waves and were heading to a city under heavy security. Police and National Guard troops guarded many downtown intersections, and a maze of tall metal fences and concrete barriers shunted cars and pedestrians.
Hundreds of police in riot gear were seen massing at Phipps, but only a handful of demonstrators were there.
Associated Press Report
Pic Gallery:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5izJGY1GNeNYgNG6q1N0bsXCVfBeAD9ATURNO0 News report:
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/G20-Summit-In-Pittsburgh-Police-Fire-Tear-Gas-As-They-Break-Up-Violent-Protests/Article/200909415388868
MR
Additions
More on Pittsburg and Oakland protests yesterday
25.09.2009 10:21
Protestors Hold Unauthorized March In Lawrenceville, Pittsburgh g20
After participating in an unsanctioned parade in Lawrenceville, some protestors broke into groups and continued to demonstrate in Shadyside.
Workers are boarding up the windows at Boston Market after anarchists broke nearly all of the windows at the restaurant at about 4 p.m.
Jim Davis and his wife had just finished eating when the mayhem started.
"We were standing around watching helicopters … flying around and as we were getting ready to leave, we saw a group of people come down the street and they pulled the fence down over there," he said, "come across the street, couldn't get through and then they picked up rocks and … just threw them through the window at Boston Market."
There were pockets of violence on Baum Boulevard, with protestors causing damage at Kentucky Fried Chicken and the BMW dealership.
Demonstrators also knocked down a fence around the former location of Taco Bell on Baum.
http://kdka.com/local/g20/Demonstrators.G20.Shadyside.2.1206744.html
Meanwhile in Oakland, California a solidarity protest was organised against the g20:
Protestors Damage Businesses In Oakland
Things turned violent when a group of students and protestors were told to disperse in Oakland Thursday night.
According to police, about 1,000 students gathered on Schenley Plaza near the Phipps Conservatory while world leaders were inside.
Police then moved the crowd to the William Pitt Union and attempted to disperse them.
At that time, protestors began throwing rocks at the police, who responded with pepper spray and rubber bullets.
Self-proclaimed anarchists then began smashing store windows along Forbes Avenue.
There is no word on the exact number of arrests or how much damage was caused.
http://kdka.com/local/g20/Oakland.crowd.Schenley.2.1207251.html
After participating in an unsanctioned parade in Lawrenceville, some protestors broke into groups and continued to demonstrate in Shadyside.
Workers are boarding up the windows at Boston Market after anarchists broke nearly all of the windows at the restaurant at about 4 p.m.
Jim Davis and his wife had just finished eating when the mayhem started.
"We were standing around watching helicopters … flying around and as we were getting ready to leave, we saw a group of people come down the street and they pulled the fence down over there," he said, "come across the street, couldn't get through and then they picked up rocks and … just threw them through the window at Boston Market."
There were pockets of violence on Baum Boulevard, with protestors causing damage at Kentucky Fried Chicken and the BMW dealership.
Demonstrators also knocked down a fence around the former location of Taco Bell on Baum.
http://kdka.com/local/g20/Demonstrators.G20.Shadyside.2.1206744.html Meanwhile in Oakland, California a solidarity protest was organised against the g20:
Protestors Damage Businesses In Oakland
Things turned violent when a group of students and protestors were told to disperse in Oakland Thursday night.
According to police, about 1,000 students gathered on Schenley Plaza near the Phipps Conservatory while world leaders were inside.
Police then moved the crowd to the William Pitt Union and attempted to disperse them.
At that time, protestors began throwing rocks at the police, who responded with pepper spray and rubber bullets.
Self-proclaimed anarchists then began smashing store windows along Forbes Avenue.
There is no word on the exact number of arrests or how much damage was caused.
http://kdka.com/local/g20/Oakland.crowd.Schenley.2.1207251.html
MR
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