G-20 Protesters, Police Clash in Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGH (Sept. 24) - Riot police turned back hundreds of protesters trying to march downtown on the first day of the Group of 20 summit Thursday, arresting nearly 20 people as authorities braced for smaller, scattered protests at dozens of businesses and organizations Friday morning.

Police, in an overwhelming show of force, declared the march illegal almost as soon as it began, firing rubber bullets and canisters of pepper spray and smoke after small bands of anarchists responded to calls to disperse by rolling huge metal trash bins, throwing rocks and breaking windows.

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl commended police for their "swift decisions to send a message to the anarchists that we will not tolerate unlawful behavior," adding there was minimal property damage as a result.

Pittsburgh Police Chief Nate Harper said 17 to 19 protesters were arrested and charged with misdemeanors, mainly failure to disperse and disorderly conduct. No serious injuries were reported.

Protesters complained about the city's response, saying their rights were trampled and that violence would not have broken out if police had allowed the marchers their say.

Jesse Ericson of the Pittsburgh G-20 Resistance Project, an umbrella organization of protest groups, condemned the city for a "bumbling and violent police action."

The G-20 Resistance Project has encouraged "affinity groups" to protest Friday morning at companies that it says represent greed, exploitation, warfare and other social ills, with potential targets including banks, Starbucks, McDonald's, grocery stores and a Marine Corps recruiting center.

Ravenstahl said police will be ready.

"We'll continue to make sure our neighborhoods are safe," he said.

Thursday afternoon's march turned chaotic at just about the time 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 decrying capitalism, tried to march from an outlying neighborhood toward the convention center where the summit is being held.

The protesters clogged streets, 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, ski masks and bandanas and carrying black flags. Others wore helmets and safety goggles.

The marchers did not have a permit and, after a few blocks, police declared it an unlawful assembly. They played a recorded announcement over a loudspeaker ordering people to leave, as well as ear-piercing sirens, 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 from Charlotte, N.C., breaking the front windshield. Protesters broke windows in a few businesses, including a bank branch, a Boston Market restaurant and a BMW dealership.

Officers fired rubber bullets, pepper spray and smoke at the protesters and set off a flash-bang grenade. Some of those exposed to the pepper spray coughed and complained that their eyes were watering and stinging.

"The demonstrators were being aggressive toward the officers who felt it was necessary to utilize that kind of force," Harper said late Thursday.

At one point, officers surged onto the sidewalks and grabbed several protesters who had been shouting at them.

"That was ridiculous," said T.J. Amick, 22, of Pittsburgh. "People were being grabbed if they just got too close to the cops. It didn't matter what they were doing, what they were saying. They were just asking what was going on, and they were being taken off the streets to God knows where."

The National Lawyers 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 fluorescent green hats.

Such street demonstrations have become the norm at world economic gatherings, including a G-20 meeting in London in April. The protesters here appeared to number fewer than 1,000, a fraction of the 50,000 that took to the streets of Seattle a decade ago at a World Trade Organization event.

The G-20 ends late Friday after a day of meetings at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center.