G20 summit protests, the "death" of free speech

[Oscar Wilde]

I'm sure, people have already seen the shenanigans in Pittsburgh, but I haven't seen a thread so...
One article

PITTSBURGH - Protesters smashed shop windows and threw rocks at police on Thursday as police used pepper gas and batons to disperse marches against capitalism at the Group of 20 summit in Pittsburgh.

[Police detain a demonstrator during anti G20 protests in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Police fired pepper spray and non-lethal rounds and deployed loudspeakers blasting piercing sound waves to repel the mostly young protesters (AFP/Saul Loeb)]Police detain a demonstrator during anti G20 protests in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Police fired pepper spray and non-lethal rounds and deployed loudspeakers blasting piercing sound waves to repel the mostly young protesters (AFP/Saul Loeb)
Protesters wore bandannas and goggles and held aloft a large black sign declaring "No hope in capitalism" and another saying "Kick Capitalism While It Is Down."

One sign simply said "I'm mad as hell."

Protests -- usually against some aspect of capitalism -- have often marked summits since trade talks in Seattle in 1999, when demonstrators ransacked the center of the city, targeting businesses seen as symbols of U.S. corporate power.

"We have seen police use rubber bullets, batons and gas," said Noah Williams, a spokesman for the anti-capitalist Pittsburgh G20 Resistance Project.

Officials said there were 15 arrests -- one for inciting a riot, four for aggravated assault and 10 others for failing to disperse.

Late on Thursday evening, several hundred protesters took to the streets near the Cathedral of Learning on the University of Pittsburgh campus. Police discharged gas and pellet-filled "beanbags" and protesters broke windows at a McDonald's, a Rite Aid pharmacy, a Subway sandwich shop and a FedEx store.

By midnight, hundreds of police in riot gear moved down Forbes Avenue. With no obvious protesters in sight, they sprayed pepper gas on passersby and even students looking down from the balconies of their residences above the avenue.

"We were just looking, then there were loud sirens and then it was hard to breath and I was coughing up a lung," said student Dustin DeMeglio, 19, who was watching as police moved by his apartment building.

Earlier, a crowd broke windows at Boston Market and KFC fast-food restaurants, a BMW dealership and a Fidelity Bank in the area, about a mile from the fenced-off convention center where the G20 talks were taking place.

Police in body armor with plastic shields threw pepper gas canisters and fired beanbags to disperse the protesters.

Leaders of 19 leading developed and developing economies and the European Union were meeting on Thursday and Friday to discuss how to avoid another global economic crisis.

Protesters planned a series of actions for Friday morning at locations including Starbucks, Gap, McDonald's and banks.

DUMPSTERS OVERTURNED

More than 12 hours of clashes on Thursday began when police dispersed some 2,000 people at a lunchtime march. With protesters sent down various streets by police, the two sides soon clashed in the Lawrenceville neighborhood.

Protesters threw bottles and rocks and police responded by sending five to 10 canisters into the crowd.

U.S. Secret Service spokesman Darrin Blackford said the gas used on Thursday was OC Vapor, which contains the active ingredient in pepper spray and causes the eyes to tear.

The marchers overturned dumpsters and hurled anything they could find at police, who gave chase and broke them into ever smaller groups.

"We're here to put pressure on the G20 to ultimately abolish global capitalism," said a 24-year-old man from Delaware, who declined to give his name.

Justin Hershkovitz, 26, a student from Michigan, complained about the police tactics as he ran from the officers.

"This kind of force has been used as an option of first resort by cops (at summits) in Italy, London and now Pittsburgh," he said. (Writing by Mark Egan; Editing by Frances Kerry)

and a video that displays an entirely different point than the article above, because this protest was PEACEFUL


From the youtube page of the person who posted that video (comments section):

I just wanted to offer a possible way to demonstrate that may be more effective in showing the Police infringement on Human Rights. What if there were demonstrations involving your blind and deaf followers? When organizers plan public demonstrations intermingle deaf and blind throughout the group. At the same time ask people to all come dressed the same way. Very dark glasses and touch sticks. If hundreds or even thousands of people refuse to disperse all dressed as blind people, the Police and Military may be forced to amend the way they attack protests. If everyone claims to be blind with actual blind people present they could possibly claim they were lost or confused and the Police infringed on their Human Rights by Discrimination. If this won't work there could be things along these lines that may work?

[Nephtys]

That youtube comment is hilariously awful. "I have an idea guys, let's show how bad evil policemen are by effectively TAKING HOSTAGES!"

[Revan's Fire]

As someone actually from the city of Pittsburgh, it truly saddens me to see the city so dead and lifeless, except for protesters and policemen. I was watching local coverage of the protests, and some of the places I frequent have been overrun by those who simply don't know what they're talking about. My very good friend got into a debate with some of them, and the protesters could not say anything other than capitalism is evil, and it squelches the voice of the people. No evidence, no reasoned argument, just capitalism is evil.

[CaptainChewbacca]

I've heard the term for these upper-middle-class kids who show up at these events to rage against the man is 'Trustafarians'. I like it, its rather apt.

[Enigma]

I have little sympathy for the protesters. No matter where the G20 summit is being held there is just about always a violent protest or two. I don't envy the police who have to deal with them. Especially those officers that don't even have the support of the city as in the case in Ottawa a few years back. A city councilor had the audacity of setting up a stall for those who have complaints against the police for the duration of the summit.

[Gil Hamilton]

I've been hearing alot about it, being a Pittsburgh native. It seems the police were leaning on the side of excessive force rather than not enough. I wouldn't be surprised it some it resulted in lawsuits against the PPD. There was video taken where a girl was trying to leave the area of a protest on bike while being shoved around by two police officers and the moment she pushed one away, they beat her to a pulp with their batons. Frankly, there are going to be alot of sticky cases. It's been a HUGE clusterfuck.

Of course, I also saw a news article with the title "Greenpeace Protestors Hang Themselves from West End Bridge". When I clicked the article, in fact, several of them had just repelled off of it in order to hange a large banner, but I though it was incredibly misleading. I'm glad my fiance, who actually works right next to where the G-20 summit was being held took time off and instead flew to Tucson rather than deal with it.

My brother also swears up and down that he was nearly run over by Silvio Berlusconi. That's almost certainly not true, since the car didn't back up so that Berlusconi could throw his drink at him.

[Broomstick]

Smashing windows and other property destruction is NOT "free speech"

Where did these jackasses get the notion you can hold a riot and not have the police show up and start crowd control measures?

[Bluewolf]

It's probably obvious but a lot of people get involved in protests as an excuse to smash things, act like a total arsehole and a thug while keeping under the guise of a legit protest. If the police dare do anything that it's "denying" free speech. A typical attitude.

[Zwinmar]

Constitution reads, "or the right of the people peaceably to assemble" not to go out and bust windows or to riot.

[Ritterin Sophia]

I'd like to see how many of these kids are wearing Che T-Shirts.

[Winston Blake]

My very good friend got into a debate with some of them, and the protesters could not say anything other than capitalism is evil, and it squelches the voice of the people. No evidence, no reasoned argument, just capitalism is evil.

I think most of what people 'know' is really a collection of shortcuts and simple guidelines that they have built up over their lives through experience, with lists of exceptions for special circumstances. Some activities, such as science and engineering, force people to learn to identify their mental rules-of-thumb and change them to better fit reality, if necessary. Some activities, however, just encourage reinforcing the same old mental rules until the idea of altering them becomes unthinkable. I don't think these protesters were deliberately obfuscating your friend - I think they may have genuinely not understood what he was trying to do.

[Raw Shark]

I've heard the term for these upper-middle-class kids who show up at these events to rage against the man is 'Trustafarians'. I like it, its rather apt.

"Trustafarian" is a pejorative term for any left-leaning individual who affects a crusty punk, band-following hippie, or other left-leaning "counterculture" or "dropout" lifestyle while in possession of parents so wealthy that they are not and will never be at a disadvantage from avoiding a job, or a sufficiently large trust fund left by same. Many G20 protesters are probably Trustafarians playing revolutionary to bolster the popularity that they habitually buy in their scene by always having awesome weed, concert ticket money, etc, but the vast majority of Trustafarians don't protest or do anything else more ambitious than a shitload of drugs.