2009-09-25
Sept. 25 (Bloomberg) -- The group behind yesterday’s unauthorized march protesting the Group of 20 summit in Pittsburgh said it may strike “100 potential targets” before noon today.
The Pittsburgh G-20 Resistance Project, which gathered about 1,500 demonstrators for an unsanctioned march in the city’s Lawrenceville neighborhood, said it will send groups out across the city this morning to cause further disruption, according to its Web site.
“The G-20 is in a house of cards: Let’s shake the table,” the group said.
Yesterday’s demonstration came on the first day of the G-20 conference that saw President Barack Obama and the leaders of 18 other industrialized or developing countries, along with the European Union, convened in the western Pennsylvania city. City officials said 66 people were arrested, many of them near the University of Pittsburgh, as officers wearing body armor used tear gas to break up crowds of demonstrators wielding steel trash bins as battering rams.
Officials are preparing for all contingencies, said Darrin Blackford, spokesman for the U.S. Secret Service.
“State, local and federal intelligence people are all preparing to try to stay ahead of any emerging threat,” Blackford said by telephone last night.
G-20 Agenda
The G-20 group seeks to cement a plan to force banks to curb leverage, hold more equity capital and keep a greater pool of assets that can be easily traded. U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Chinese President Hu Jintao are among those attending.
Mike Brooks, a spokesman for the city, said 42 people were arrested last night near the university, while 24 were picked up earlier on charges ranging from failure to disperse to inciting a riot. In all, 80 arrests have been made this week, he said.
At least two police officers received minor injuries, he said. About a dozen businesses suffered damage, mostly broken windows, and 12 demonstrations were held peacefully, according to a police statement.
At least one of those arrested late yesterday afternoon was a National Lawyer’s Guild observer. The observers, along with those from the American Civil Liberties Union, follow protesters and document police activity and arrests with cameras and notebooks.
Boarded Up
Stores and offices throughout Pittsburgh are closed and many are boarded up or display signs saying they are locally owned or family owned businesses.
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, world monetary policy and climate change are among the rallying points for demonstrators seeking the eyes and ears of world leaders and media, protest organizers said.
The U.S. Secret Service imposed street, waterway and airspace security zones around the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, where many summit activities take place today and tomorrow, according to the agency’s Web site.
Pittsburgh designated three areas for demonstrations to take place, according to police. A city-sanctioned march has also been called for this afternoon. At least 70 groups have endorsed the march, which is billed as non-violent and sponsored by the Thomas Merton Center Anti-War Committee.
In June, a committee of U.K. lawmakers criticized the London Metropolitan Police for its handling of protests at April’s G-20 summit there. Ten thousand officers were called in to handle 35,000 demonstrators, and the report by Parliament’s Home Affairs Committee said some were untrained and inexperienced. One man died.