Police, G-20 protesters face off

It took police nearly an hour and a half to end an unpermited march that began in Lawrenceville… It took police nearly an hour and a half to end an unpermited march that began in Lawrenceville and headed into the Strip District this afternoon.

Members of the Pittsburgh G-20 Resistance Project, a collection of groups opposed to oppression, gathered in Lawrenceville’s Arsenal Park around 2:30 p.m. today and intended to head Downtown.

But about a half hour after the demonstrators began, police declared their march an “illegal assembly,” sending the protesters into a frenzy and splitting their march into different segments.

The police would remove or possibly arrest anyone who didn’t disperse, one officer said over a megaphone.

One group of people ran down an alley and placed Dumpsters in the street to keep police from getting to them. They walked throughout residential parts of Lawrenceville, some screaming, “Downtown is this way” and pointing to either their right or left. Many of them didn’t seem to know where they were going.

Two segments of the marched combined again and walked down 37th Street. Police cut them off at the bottom of a street corner and once again announced

that the march was an “illegal assembly.”

Jim Pittman, who lives on 37th Street, stepped out onto his front porch to watch the commotion.

He said he supported the protesters.

“You’s [sic] gotta do what you’s gotta do,” he said. “Somebody’s gotta get the message out.”

A few minutes later, police used a tear gas-like smoke on the protesters. A large cloud of gas grew, climbing the hill and hitting protesters in the face. The ones who were prepared put bandanas and gas masks on their faces.

A couple of people screamed. Others hacked and coughed as they searched for an alley through which they could disperse. They eventually found a side-street, walked down it.

Police officers stood on top of a black van, using a device that emitted a sound that seemed at least twice as loud as a normal police siren. The idea was to produce a sound so loud it sent demonstrators the opposite direction, toward where the police wanted to direct them.

Protesters lingered for a few moments before continuing down the street, where another set of officers blocked the road.

And so the pattern continued until a group of protesters, small in comparison to the original one, were blockaded by police in the Strip District.