Police open fire on G20 protesters!
PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania - September 24, 2009 - Use of force was authorized against G20 protesters in Pittsburgh this afternoon.
Police fired pepper spray and non-lethal beanbag rounds Thursday and deployed loudspeakers blasting piercing sound waves to repel protesters marching on the G20 summit.
Riot officers intervened after a 1,000-strong crowd, led by black-clad hardliners wearing goggles, helmets and masks and brandishing anti-capitalist banners, began to trek across Pittsburgh towards the conference venue.
The Group of 20 is a forum for the world's biggest developed and emerging economies and its meetings are a magnet for anti-capitalists opposed to what they see as an undemocratic body promoting inhumane free market policies.
Police in riot gear blocked the main roads leading to downtown Pittsburgh from the gritty neighborhood from which the demonstration set off, forcing groups to divert onto side streets as they sought a gap in the cordon.
About half-an-hour into the march, the police began broadcasting a pre-recorded announcement in English and Spanish, declaring the protest was an "unlawful assembly" and ordering the crowd to disperse.
"If you do not disperse you may be subject to arrest or other police action. Other police action may include actual physical removal, the use of riot control agents and or less-lethal munitions which could cause injuries."
Some heeded the police warning, but others peeled off and ran up Pittsburgh's maze of streets, looking for alternative routes to the summit.
Riot police blocked a group of several hundred on a narrow side street and fired pepper gas grenades at them after half a dozen youths raced down the road, pushing a rubbish dumpster (wheeled skip) towards the line of officers.
The bulk of the march melted away, coughing, sneezing and with tears streaming from their eyes, but a few pockets of diehards ran scattered through the working class district of Lawrenceville, taunting police lines.
"They pushed us into a side street in a residential area and then shot tear gas at us. They shot like three cannisters," demonstrator Ross McCoy said. Police later said the substance used was pepper spray.
As the now-scattered demonstration ground on into the late afternoon, police again opened fire on a small crowd in the northern part of Pittsburgh, using what the security forces said were non-lethal "beanbag rounds".
"In response to having sticks, bricks and rocks thrown at them in the Shady Side neighborhood of Pittsburgh, police responded with bean bag rounds and dispersed the crowd," said FBI agent Bill Crowley.
Police confirmed one arrest - a man who was charged with civil disobedience - while demonstrators said at least 14 were taken away.
Police fired pepper spray and non-lethal beanbag rounds Thursday and deployed loudspeakers blasting piercing sound waves to repel protesters marching on the G20 summit.
Riot officers intervened after a 1,000-strong crowd, led by black-clad hardliners wearing goggles, helmets and masks and brandishing anti-capitalist banners, began to trek across Pittsburgh towards the conference venue.
The Group of 20 is a forum for the world's biggest developed and emerging economies and its meetings are a magnet for anti-capitalists opposed to what they see as an undemocratic body promoting inhumane free market policies.
Police in riot gear blocked the main roads leading to downtown Pittsburgh from the gritty neighborhood from which the demonstration set off, forcing groups to divert onto side streets as they sought a gap in the cordon.
About half-an-hour into the march, the police began broadcasting a pre-recorded announcement in English and Spanish, declaring the protest was an "unlawful assembly" and ordering the crowd to disperse.
"If you do not disperse you may be subject to arrest or other police action. Other police action may include actual physical removal, the use of riot control agents and or less-lethal munitions which could cause injuries."
Some heeded the police warning, but others peeled off and ran up Pittsburgh's maze of streets, looking for alternative routes to the summit.
Riot police blocked a group of several hundred on a narrow side street and fired pepper gas grenades at them after half a dozen youths raced down the road, pushing a rubbish dumpster (wheeled skip) towards the line of officers.
The bulk of the march melted away, coughing, sneezing and with tears streaming from their eyes, but a few pockets of diehards ran scattered through the working class district of Lawrenceville, taunting police lines.
"They pushed us into a side street in a residential area and then shot tear gas at us. They shot like three cannisters," demonstrator Ross McCoy said. Police later said the substance used was pepper spray.
As the now-scattered demonstration ground on into the late afternoon, police again opened fire on a small crowd in the northern part of Pittsburgh, using what the security forces said were non-lethal "beanbag rounds".
"In response to having sticks, bricks and rocks thrown at them in the Shady Side neighborhood of Pittsburgh, police responded with bean bag rounds and dispersed the crowd," said FBI agent Bill Crowley.
Police confirmed one arrest - a man who was charged with civil disobedience - while demonstrators said at least 14 were taken away.
