Alright, people. One of my best friends goes to the University of Pittsburgh and he was in the middle of the whole thing. Most of the "protesters" were just students curious about what was going on. He wrote this about it all:

"This note is for my friends who are not in Pittsburgh and have not yet been given a fairly comprehensive version of what has been going on here. If you have been seeing my wall posts, you'll know that something bad happened in Pittsburgh, but if you want my story, here it is...

On Thursday and Friday September 24-25, the G-20 World Leader's Summit occurred in Pittsburgh. The summit involved the leaders of the United States, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Russia, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Turkey, and the United Kingdom. The purpose of the summit is to have a forum for the major world leaders about the global economic crisis. Pittsburgh was chosen to be the location for the summit in order to highlight its economic recovery after the city's manufacturing industry collapsed about 40 years ago.

The G-20 is always met with protesters for various causes, including global warming awareness, socialism, peoples' rights in other countries, anti-free-trade, and anti-war, and anarchy. The city of Pittsburgh was required to bring in police forces from all regions of the state of Pennsylvania and other nearby states.

On the evening of the 24th, the summit began with a dinner in the Phipps Conservatory, a plant exhibition hall (really quite a nice place) just under a mile from my dorm in the borough of Oakland. The University cancelled classes after 4:00 PM that day in order to ensure that students did not have to be outside if they did not wish to. During the day of the 24th, several protests had been broken up by riot police. At about 7:00 PM a small protest began at the Schenley Plaza. (from this point on, I will be referring to locations on campus, please refer to the map I posted at:< http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs209.snc1/7620_178174626232_559501232_4081545_8066324_n.jpg>)

I went there to investigate myself at about 8:00 PM. The protest itself was fairly small, only about a hundred or so people total, with only a handful of protesters. There was some live music and dancing, courtesy of the Hare Krishna. Despite the fact that the protest was fairly small and peaceful, there were several hundred police forming a perimeter around the plaza, which is under a quarter-mile from the Conservatory. All of the Police were in riot gear, which covered any form of identification they may have had; they were also all armed with lethal and non-lethal weapons.

Around 9:00, I decided to return to my dorm. At 10:15, I overheard someone saying that they saw fire on Forbes Avenue. I decided to go out and investigate. At this point, the street had been flooded by curious students, and would remain that way until the police removed them. Several dumpsters had been pushed into the intersection of Forbes and Atwood by anarchist protesters. The next intersection had a overturned dumpster with flaming garbage spilled on the street. Several shop windows had been broken by a protester from California, however the media initially implicated that it had been students who were responsible.

I reached the lawn of the Pitt Union, and at about 10:45 the police began to multiply rapidly. They also brought in several scary-looking trucks with large dish-shaped things on them. This turned out to be a Long-Range Acoustic Device (LRAD), which emits a loud, scary noise which is physically disabling within a certain radius. At 11:00 PM, the trucks began playing a pre-recorded message declaring that the people in the streets had become an "illegal gathering" and that the crowd was to disperse, or they could be subject to arrest or attack with "less lethal" weaponry (does that mean you're less dead when you get hit?)

At this, I decided to retreat to Forbes Hall. Other people were not fortunate enough to get out of there as quickly as I did, and became exposed to a hail of "OC" gas, rubber bullets, mace, LRAD blasts, and nightsticks. The University unfortunately decided to lock down the residence halls as the police approached, giving the retreating students nowhere to go to escape from the police. One of my friends was arrested while holding open the doors to the Litchfield Towers residence hall lobby so that escaping students had somewhere to go. She was dragged outside of the doorway, beaten to the ground, not given any rights, held for five hours, and released without any charge as of yet.

At the time, I was unaware of this, but I watched the police advance through the lower campus (residential area, mainly between Forbes and Fifth avenues) via the live feed on the local news. When I noticed that they were three blocks away from Forbes Hall, I went to the patio on the second floor of the hall (out of reach of anyone who didn't live there or have a friend there). At about midnight, the cops were in front of the hall, still chasing a small group of protesters despite being nearly a mile from the original protest ground and being practically at the end of the campus. Without any real warning, they threw several canisters of "OC" gas onto the patio. Unknown to me at the time, several also entered the lobby and threatened to mace several students who were unable to enter the hall due to the lockdown.

OC gas is for all intents and purposes the same as tear gas. When you inhale it, your lungs and throat itch and you can't do anything but cough. If it gets in your eyes, you become partially blind and it feels like your eyes are melting. I was several feet away from a grenade and was directly exposed to it for several seconds as my fellow students and I tried to escape. I ran to my bathroom on the sixth floor and flushed my eyes and choked for five minutes. The third floor had window open out of which the students had been looking, it was filled with gas, and the students living on the third floor became refugees for several hours while it cleared.

Shortly after passing Forbes hall, the police attack ended. They left Oakland with 42 arrests (most were let go that morning), and a large number of unfairly treated, assaulted, and pissed students. The university itself has yet to make any statement regarding Thursday night, but the Mayor of Pittsburgh and Chief of Police have stated that they are "proud of how well the police handled the situation". They are apparently not fans of students either.

I will save my personal commentary and descriptions of the aftermath for another note. However, here are a few links that you will find interesting.
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNeD4rHUF4A> a compilation of student-made videos from 9/24.
The videos are of varying quality and contain some harsh language and violence. These will give you an idea of what the students here experienced (I know the person being dragged away at 2:35)
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6aRrQz7224> This video was not taken by me, but it was taken from my vantage point when Forbes Hall was attacked
<http://www.pittnews.com/> Pitt's student newspaper, featuring independent coverage of the G-20 (and some rather good photography, the ones I took came out terribly)
<http://www.pittbriefly.com/> A blog on which many videos of the G-20 'riot' have been posted. Some of these cannot be found on Youtube.

Thank you for reading this,
......."

You're right. I missed the "in your country" part. I don't think I've seen that before.

In reply to this comment by demon_ix:
Sure it's dead? I'm getting a not-available-in-your-country error, not a removed error...

In reply to this comment by NetRunner:
*dead

Sure it's dead? I'm getting a not-available-in-your-country error, not a removed error...

In reply to this comment by NetRunner:
*dead

Your video, G20 Pittsburgh Protests - Students Trapped and Attacked, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

>> ^LostTurntable:

And if there really were cops posing as anarchists starting shit that's fucked up. Of course, if the coward anarchist a-holes stopped covering their faces then we wouldn't have that problem either. And if the protests were completely non-violent and passive, then the cops wouldn't be able to do that.


Keep in mind there is a difference between little "a" anarchism and big "A" Anarchism. Most true anarchists don't engage in violent, property-destroying protest.

>> ^blankfist:
^What say you of the students who were inadvertently trapped and attacked? They weren't anarchists. I suppose in your world, justice requires we break a few eggs to make an omlette. And because some of the participants were anarchists, then all dissenting opinions must be those of anarchists, right? Therefore I must be one by your loose, ignorant and poorly thought out logic.
Your brush is broad. Your paint is one color.


I called those students innocent bystanders, if you actually read what I wrote. They got stuck in the crossfire and that sucks. But the crossfire was started by the anarchists! There were anarchists there. That's a fact. They organized the protest! They're the ones who started shit and they're the ones you should be upset with. I never said anything about everyone there being an anarchist. Do you think in binary or something?

You're the one citing the Reign Of Terror is an acceptable means of revolution. That's the definition of breaking eggs to make an omelet.

And if there really were cops posing as anarchists starting shit that's fucked up. Of course, if the coward anarchist a-holes stopped covering their faces then we wouldn't have that problem either. And if the protests were completely non-violent and passive, then the cops wouldn't be able to do that.

I'm done arguing with you about this. We're both retarded for doing it.

>> ^LostTurntable:
>>blame the shitheads with the bandannas, not the cops.


More and more now those shitheads are turning out to be undercover cops themselves, agent provocateurs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=St1-WTc1kow
http://www.videosift.com/video/G20-Epic-Undercover-Police-Fail

>> ^ElJardinero:
Is it a protest when photographers outnumber protesters 10 to 1 ?


You can't be both? It's like an insurance policy for some.

I'm willing to bet most of the people there don't even understand what the G20 is, they just see it as world government, and how that has to be bad because..well...Ministry said so in that one song.

I didn't realize citing facts was hyperbole. Those were anarchists, they identified as such and they came there with no other reason other than to pick fights and start shit. That's what they do. They're idiots. They're also cowards, covering their faces, starting shit and then running away so innocent protesters can get the grief for it.

You haven't been to Pittsburgh, I live here. That street they pushed that dumpster down was steep. It could crush someone easily. That is assault. End of story.

And you can't endorse violent revolution AND believe in nonviolence. You're big into Orwell I assume, doublespeak much? If you really think that "When the government takes your 1st Amendment rights, there's always the 2nd Amendment to fall back on. This is when watering the tree of liberty is necessary" then you should sign off your computer, stock up on weapons and get to work. All you anti-govt types who think the police are instituting a police state, 9/11 was an inside job, you have no freedom of speech, etc, you're all a bunch of wussy blowhards. All talk, no action. Get to work and start killing government officials already! Or would you rather someone else do it so you can watch it on YouTube?

Tags for this video have been changed from 'g20 summit, protest, police, law enforcement, abuse, violence, howard zinn' to 'g20 summit, protest, pittsburgh, police, law enforcement, abuse, violence, howard zinn' - edited by kronosposeidon

>> ^Fade:
Would democracy exist as we know it if the French hadn't murdered some government officials? lostTurntable you are a moron if you think protest can be effective if it doesn't cause civil disturbance or takes place entirely within legal bounds. The limitations governments like the US and UK place on protests is designed specifically to limit their effectiveness. If you stick within the lines all you will achieve is what they want you to achieve. Exactly nothing.


Wow, first of all 20,000-40,000 people is a bit more than "some government officials." Don't cite the Reign of Terror as a well-orchestrated revolutionary scenario. Protests by their nature CAUSE civil disturbance, but the ones protesting must remain civil. The African-American protesters of the 1950s and 60s who were beaten by cops and had the hoses set loose upon them rarely fought back. Therefore sympathy is given to them. Who else did that? Oh yeah, Gandhi. If that stupid girl at the end of the video wanted to prove her point she should have just sat silently and refused to move, yelling (god knows what) at the cops is idiotic. When the cops act this way against a passive audience they are repressing them, when they act this way against a loud and violent mob they are doing their damn job.

By donning masks (like pathetic COWARDS) and hurling dumpsters, throwing rocks and breaking shit you don't endear anyone to your cause (whatever that is, it's not really clear other than "OMG G20 is bad!" There were many more protests in Pittsburgh that were perfectly civil because the people remained calm. Sorry, when I see stuff like this I see nothing but police regrettably reacting the way they have to when some idiots start acting a damn fool. Innocents got caught in the middle, blame the shitheads with the bandannas, not the cops.

>> ^EndAll:
blocked.. weird


Seriously!

Too lazy to proxy fiddle around it. Feh.

In reply to this comment by joedirt:
>> ^Payback:
Complete utter bullshit. Was a poor attempt at even faking it. The driver was wearing cowboy boots, ffs.


You are an idiot. The driver is not wearing cowboy boots.

The car is clearly a govt car of some sort, notice the window vent thing is only for the back seat, and the stubby radio antenna on the trunk.

I guarantee this is real and your only criticism is "not wearing hats" and the different uniforms. It could be Pittsburgh cops who are also Natl Guard that had some special detail. It could also be "undercover" cops that decided national-guard-like might be more tolerated then a plain clothes cop.

It's not staged, you can see riot cops in the first part of the video snatching someone else, and how did the car drive through police like that and the video is crawling with cops and national guard looking people.

Meh, go fuck yourself. You lose me giving a shit what you say with your opening statement.

edit- nm, I looked into what this gather was all about. I thought the police where taking on an actual riot, not creating one.

I will say within this horrid show of force, at least some reason was shown by the cops that let the students flee to a safe location once they realized their own orders where conflicting with the fact the students couldn't actually abide to them. Imagine if they just started arresting all those students for 'not following the cop's orders'.

Sad day for Pittsburgh though.

This video and more are in http://www.videosift.com/video/G20-Pittsburgh-Protests-Batons-Tear-Gas-and-Rubber-Bullets