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| Pittsburgh beefs up security to greet G20 protesters | |
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| Topic Started: Sep 20 2009, 08:40 PM (295 Views) | |
| noeffects | Sep 20 2009, 08:40 PM Post #1 |
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Pittsburgh beefs up security to greet G20 protesters By Virginie Montet (AFP) – 4 hours ago PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania — Pittsburgh is beefing up security with thousands of extra police, as anti-globalization, anti-war, anti-government and anti-poverty activists descend on it for the G20 summit. Protesters say they plan to air their opposition to "the undemocratic way in which the G20 operates and the decisions the group makes, which affect the more than six billion inhabitants of this planet." World leaders gather in this once rough-and-tumble US steel town on Thursday and Friday, and while most of the protests are expected to be peaceful, 29-year-old mayor Luke Ravenstahl is taking no chances. He wants Pittsburgh to show off its new clothes. Once known for smog and smelters, the southwest Pennsylvania city on the Ohio river has undergone a rebirth to emerge as a haven for green business and young professionals. The fear in the minds of residents, officials and security forces is that violent demonstrations such as those seen in 1999 in Seattle -- where protesters and riot police faced off for days, disrupting a meeting of the World Trade Organization -- will mar this week's G20 summit. "I hope they'll keep the protesters under control so Seattle doesn't repeat itself," said resident Nancy Provil. Ravenstahl has said protesters will be allowed to exercise their constitutional freedom of speech and assembly "within sight and sound" of the summit venue. It turns out this will be in a strictly delineated area outside of the downtown cultural area where the likes of US President Barack Obama and China's Hu Jintao will be sitting down with other world leaders. Ravenstahl has also called in 4,000 highly trained federal police officers to back up local security forces during the summit. "We know that there will be some individuals who will seek to do harm to our city," said Pittsburgh director of public safety Michael Huss. The bill for ensuring security during the summit is expected to be in the region of 18 million dollars, but the two-day meeting of the world's top developing and developed nations is likely to bring more than that into the city's coffers. While the authorities were busy gearing up for the summit, the protesters were, too. The Pittsburgh Organizing Group held a "Mass Action 101" workshop for students last week, and will conduct a similar training session on Sunday. "It's less about advocating doing one thing or another and more of 'how-to' participate in a mobilization," Patrick Young of POG, an anarchist group, told AFP. "These are questions you want to ask yourself about what you want to participate in and where you want to put yourself and what kind of preparations you want to make before coming to a major demonstration." Activist groups around Pittsburgh have been trying to organize housing for the thousands of demonstrators from around the world who are expected to stream into the city for the summit. The Pittsburgh G20 Resistance Project (PGRP) has created accounts on the micro-blogging platform Twitter and a website where activists can find information on everything from where to get a meal to how many people have been arrested. At least four major marches and rallies have been scheduled in Pittsburgh in the build-up to and during the summit. The first is a "March for Jobs" on Sunday, which is expected to draw several thousand people. On the eve of the summit on Wednesday, workers and environmentalist movements will be holding a concert, which 10,000 people are expected to attend, according to Young. The following day around 1,000 people are expected to march towards the summit venue in a protest organized by the Pittsburgh G20 Resistance Project (PGRP). "They have not applied for a permit, nor have they pre-emptively been offered one," said Young. And on Friday, as the summit winds down, protesters have been called to take part in the main event: a mass march on "institutions that pepper the landscape where the G-20's worldview manifests... the places that symbolize the kind of world the G-20 works to protect and sustain," according to the PGRP website. "It's important that we show the world that the G7 is a body that is self-appointed," said Edith Bell, a member of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom who, at the age of 85, hardly fits the stereotype of anti-G20 activist. The G20 comprises the G7, plus the European Union and other leading world economies. Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved. More » |
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| Domenick DiMaggio | Sep 21 2009, 02:12 AM Post #2 |
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yeah its gonna be an interesting week in the burgh let me tell ya.......lol |
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| Domenick DiMaggio | Sep 24 2009, 07:50 PM Post #3 |
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i just want to say that downtown pittsburgh is fucking sick. there are blackhawk helicopters flying all over the city. the military is shooting people with bean bag bullets out of 12 gauges. theres fucking sound weapons like they used in iraq. tear gas. greenpeace idiots were hanging off of bridges the other day. stores have been closed and a lot of them are boarded up. rush hour traffic and there was no one on the parkway........ this is what the new world order looks like....... |
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| noeffects | Sep 24 2009, 10:28 PM Post #4 |
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You would think these "dignitaries" could just simply hold a video conference. Nah..Too easy... They need to make a big fucking scene and show the world how important and untouchable they are...what a dangerous waste... |
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| noeffects | Sep 24 2009, 10:57 PM Post #5 |
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 this outragous !..kidnapping ! who is this guy to get singled out by military in an unmarked car ?!? 
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| noeffects | Sep 24 2009, 11:08 PM Post #6 |
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noise pollution. turn your speakers down a bit. |
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| Lin Kuei | Sep 24 2009, 11:14 PM Post #7 |
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My god this is insane... http://www.prisonplanet.com/military-attacks-american-citizens-with-sound-weapons-tear-gas-at-g20.html |
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| noeffects | Sep 24 2009, 11:14 PM Post #8 |
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  Weird ...I've been hearing this could be WeAreChange's Luke Rudowski ? 
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| JFK | Sep 24 2009, 11:19 PM Post #9 |
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Live feed to the G-20 channel of the Pittsburgh PD... http://www.radioreference.com/apps/audio/?action=wp&feedId=1987 |
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| noeffects | Sep 24 2009, 11:20 PM Post #10 |
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from video comments: Unmarked car. Woodland cammo (outdated). No headgear. Sleeves improperly rolled. Black t-shirts. No handcuffs or zip strips. One guy has desert boots with green cammo uniform. No identifying patches like unit/division insignia on shoulders. The car has hub caps. The "detainee" is still in possession of his bag, an object hung from his belt and is not being properly restrained AT ALL. The driver is wearing a wristwatch with a metal band. |
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| Lin Kuei | Sep 24 2009, 11:47 PM Post #11 |
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Military intelligence? It could be spooks dressed as military.... |
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| noeffects | Sep 25 2009, 12:24 AM Post #12 |
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....yea maybe it could be some sort of "posturing" ...showing people protesting what could happen to them if they don't lick boots... |
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| JFK | Sep 25 2009, 12:29 AM Post #13 |
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Well at least the original video had a good shot of the license plate.  
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| noeffects | Sep 25 2009, 07:43 PM Post #14 |
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seriously! |
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| noeffects | Sep 28 2009, 08:23 PM Post #15 |
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really... even more seriously... lick my boots and say cheese ! their grandparents would be so proud of their little dominatrixes... |
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| Lin Kuei | Sep 28 2009, 10:36 PM Post #16 |
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Undercover provocateur cops in EPIC FAIL |
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8:42 AM Dec 5
