Pitt students reflect on breathing riot gas

Pitt students protesting the G-20 Summit — and those observing the demonstrations —… Pitt students protesting the G-20 Summit — and those observing the demonstrations — encountered clouds of a riot control gas during Thursday night’s G-20 protests in Oakland.

Troops sporting face shields and body armor released the gas along Forbes Avenue, in the Schenley Quadrangle and in the Schenley Plaza, causing students to disperse from the areas.

Freshman Elias Tabet was exposed to the riot gas when he was gathered along Forbes Avenue.

He said that while he was standing in grass near the William Pitt Union, a can of just-detonated riot gas rolled to a stop at his feet.

“They threw it at me, and it just smoked,” Tabet said. “I started coughing at first … it made my throat itch.”

Tabet, who said he was not involved in the protests, said he later picked up the canister to keep as a souvenir.

Police also released canisters of gas in the Fifth Avenue side of the Schenley Quadrangle and ordered students to step inside the closest residence hall.

Zach Sweigart, a freshman, said he was waiting for a friend outside the Union but was forced into Bruce Hall after the gas detonation.

“I was just waiting there, and then the cops came up and were like ‘Get out of here!’” Sweigart said. “They just told me to get inside a building.”

Sweigart said he was frightened by the gas, but he felt more anxious about being forced into a residence hall.

“This isn’t even where I live,” he said.

Also stationed inside Bruce Hall was sophomore Kevin McMahon.

He was finishing a cigarette outside the residence hall when a police officer ordered him inside.

McMahon said he was upset with the demand.

“This is our residence hall,” he said. “This is where we pay to live every year. Of all the places to try and confine us and say that we’re being unlawful, how can it be in our own residence halls?”

Officers on scene and in the city’s Zone 4 office, which covers Oakland, declined to comment.