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Pittsburgh police clash with G-20 protesters

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] Several demonstrations at the Pittsburgh Group of 20 (G-20) Summit turned violent Thursday afternoon and late evening as protesters clashed with police. In the city's Oakland neighborhood, home of the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University, police in riot gear cleared protesters and student onlookers from an area around Phipps Conservatory, where President Barack Obama had hosted a dinner for world leaders. Police ordered the crowd to disperse, then moved down nearby Forbes Avenue past the University of Pittsburgh School of Law using smoke canisters and rubber bullets as some protesters threw stones and broke the windows of several local businesses. This video was shot on the corner of Forbes Ave. and Bouquet St., where the law school is located:The law school building, JURIST's headquarters, was not damaged. Earlier in the day, police dispersed an anarchists' march in the city's Lawrenceville neighborhood with pepper spray canisters and rubber bullets after announcing that it was an unlawful assembly.More than 60 people were arrested during Thursday's protests, and several others were injured, though none seriously. Protests and demonstrations are expected to continue Friday. The largest march, organized by the Thomas Merton Center, is expected to move from Forbes Avenue to downtown around Noon local time.The violent protests stood in marked contrast to peaceful protests that took place earlier in the day when protesters took to Pittsburgh's streets to call attention to a range of global human rights issues. A group of Tibetan protesters from across the US held a march to call Chinese President Hu Jintao's attention to recent human rights abuses in that region. The march is scheduled to continue Friday. Another group rallied for freedom to practice Falun Gong, a religion whose followers face persecution in China. On Pittsburgh's North Side, a group of Burmese monks marched in protest of human rights conditions in Myanmar. The Coalition of Ethiopians for Human Rights marched downtown seeking fair elections in Ethiopia and the release of imprisoned opposition leader Birtukan Mideksa.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on September 25, 2009 (boomark / email).