More about the Protest in Pittsburgh (the one with tasers, dogs, and mace)

Junkdrawer

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Sun Aug-21-05 04:19 PM
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More about the Protest in Pittsburgh (the one with tasers, dogs, and mace)

OK, if you haven’t heard, a peaceful protest turned violent in Oakland yesterday when, according to Police Sgt. Clint Winkler, “one of the marchers grabbed a TV camera and damaged it and protesters then attacked an officer who tried to intervene.” http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05233/557445.stm At least that’s what the police are saying. Here's a link to some video of the incidents:

http://pittsburgh.indymedia.org/news/2005/08/19803.php

Well, I’ve been doing some digging, I visited the protester's in front of the jail, and I talked with their leaders at their "new conference" today and there’s a vastly different story to tell.

Chronologically, it happened like this:

The Pittsburgh Organizing Group (POG) has been protesting the Oakland Recruiting Office (right in the center of the University of Pittsburgh campus) for a while. They planned their latest protest for Saturday Aug. 20 at 10:30 AM and advertised it on their website: http://www.organizepittsburgh.org. Here’s where it gets interesting. Unknown to POG, the folks at the far-right websites, specifically Little Green Footballs and Freerepublic.com caught wind of their plans. Here’s some of their posts:

24 Fight the Hypocrisy 8/16/2005 08:38PM PDT
I live less than an hour and a half from there and it just so happens that I have nothing else going on (surprisingly) this Saturday. It also just so happens that I have two large dogs. It doesn't "just so happen" that large dogs eat alot and therefore, ahem, excuse me, deficate alot, but that is what happens. But it does just so happen that I have right here a quite sizeable stack of brown paper lunch sacks. I'll be scooping and saving all week. While it may be true that Molotov cocktails would hurt alot more, I think my dungbombs will be much more satisfyingly humiliating.

The only thing I'm worried about now is telling my wife that I'm not going to be free on another Saturday after all.

#28 Baldy 8/16/2005 08:41PM PDT
They are meeting in Oakland, home to CERT, CMU and U of Pitt, MANY hospitals. It is moonbat central (actually, the entire East End, except for some "ethnic" neighborhoods - full of Catholics/blue collar workers). I live in Squirrell Hill, which is the wealthier part of town, which is a mix of professors, Jews - 50%, Russians, and assorted other immigrants. I emailed the police about this, since the last time they did this (earlier this year), the police didn't know about it beforehand, IIRC.

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=17082_None_Dare_Call_It_Sedition

To: LM_Guy
Well, since we know their protest route, I guess pelting them with tomatoes and eggs will be all the easier?

6 posted on 08/18/2005 8:15:56 AM PDT by HamiltonJay

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1465898/posts

just thought freepers would like to know what the enemy is up to. (And remember -- the left supports the troops!)
Their site was down yesterday, but looks to be up at the moment. I've saved a screen shot of this page just in case.

1 posted on 08/18/2005 6:59:57 AM PDT by 68skylark

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1465856/posts

I’ll let POG pick up the story of Saturday:

…. Prior to the start of the march, word was received that the
station wouldn’t be opening for the day due to the protests.

At 10:45am people began to march towards the Oakland Recruiting Station in order to celebrate this victory, ensure there was no chance of the station reopening that day, and to focus attention on the continuing demand for its closure. The march took over Forbes Avenue opposing traffic and met only limited police interference. Upon arrival, the march moved completely onto the sidewalk and blocked the doors to the center. Speakers from POG talked about the need to confront recruitment and the ongoing war in Iraq. More information on the overall campaign can be found at http://www.organizepittsburgh.org

As the speech finished, someone taped a cardboard sign to the stations door reading “No Lies Told Today, Recruitment Center Has Been Shut Down.”. At this point, a cameraman from Fox News shoved his camera into the face of a protester who was standing by the sign. When that individual asked that it be pointed somewhere else (instead of his face) the cameraman became aggressive. An altercation ensued at which point he started screaming to the cops to arrest people for assaulting his camera. Police from the City Of Pittsburgh and the University of Pittsburgh promptly began to attack the crowd on the sidewalk. The first person arrested (and according to the police, the person Fox is pressing charges against) was hit and pepper sprayed, during which time a cop held a taser two inches from his face. After that, a women in the crowd was grabbed, hit, pepper sprayed in the face while on the ground, and then tasered, all while three large cops stood around her. She is currently in the hospital and we are unsure of her condition. A male protester was also arrested, pepper-sprayed and tasered. An overwhelming police presence started ordering people to disperse from the sidewalk, and a police dog began pursuing people. Cops hit and shoved people, while the dog lunged forward and bit a 68-year-old grandmother who was walking away with her back to the dog. The police also let the dog bite a videographer, who narrowly avoided injury as the dog only got his pants. Further outrages occurred as the police grabbed a 17 year-old girl off the sidewalk and slammed her to the ground. Her crime? She questioned the legality of their earlier actions. Pepper spray also hit a group of children and the police knocked over a man in a wheelchair.
...

http://pittsburgh.indymedia.org/news/2005/08/19793.php

So, according to POG and the Pittsburgh police, the whole police incident started with the “FOX TV cameraman”. Well, witnesses now say this “TV Cameraman” was, in reality, just a guy in a Fox News t-shirt holding an amateur VCR camera:

by a witness Saturday, Aug. 20, 2005 at 11:50 PM

For clarification -- the camerman in question was wearing a "fox news" shirt, but was not directly working for him. Other TV crews identified him as a freelancer for Fox. His camera was not a pro camera like the other crews (DVCAM), but was a consumer-grade miniDV camera.

He also was aggressive and hostile towards the protestors from the beginning. I think it is likely that he wanted to provoke protestors so that he could give the cops an excuse to react violently.

http://pittsburgh.indymedia.org/news/2005/08/19793_comment.php#19808

Putting one and one together, I think it’s highly likely the cameraman came to the protest with provocation on his mind and I find it extremely interesting that the police were waiting in force and used this “TV Newsman’s” shout as a signal to begin what can only be described as an excessive show of force.