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I am just arriving in Pittsburgh this Friday morning as folks are gearing up for this morning’s huge protest which starts around 12 noon.. Just spoke to my man Paradise Gray of X-Clan and One Hood.. who has been on the ground covering the haps like there’s no tomorrow.. He just alerted me to two disturbing things.. First, the police used some sort of ‘noise weapon’ on crowds yesterday. You can see it pictured on top of the tank in the photo below. It’s a loud irritating noise and makes people want to leave an area almost immediately.. We will gather more information on this later today..
The second disturbing thing is that police have been aggressively filming and making their presence known to Gray and other One Hood members. Paradise describes police officers he had never seen before walking near him and saying his name. One officer told him he’s been reading his blogs and reports.. Pittsburgh is definitely on lock down and a total police state. You could see that driving into the city… Follow the tweets and Facebook blogs as we will be updating all day..
-Davey D-
“Use The Force Luke” – Storm Troopers Occupy Pittsburgh, PA
http://g20pgh.ning.com/profiles/blogs/use-the-force-luke-storm
PittsburghMayor Luke Ravenstahlsaid that the level of security that we are seeing in the streets of Pittsburgh is normal for the G20 and these type of events, however I am from New York and have never seem a city locked down like Pittsburgh is locked down right now. The city is like a ghost town right now. Boarded up businesses and residents afraid to leave their homes for media driven fear of the protesters or intimidation from the massive display of military power by an occupying force that looks like a scene from “Clone Wars” in the Star Wars Universe. It’s ironic that with the amount of metal cages surrounding the David L. Lawrence Convention Center and Downtown Pittsburgh our city can once again can make the claim of “Steel City”. Way to run “The Steel Curtain Defense” Pittsburgh!
I was at a March in the Lawrenceville neighborhood of Pittsburgh today and I saw one of the largest gatherings of Police/troops that I have ever seen domestically, I saw nothing like what I saw today at the The United Nations, The Million Man March, The Millions More Movement, nor President Obama’s Inauguration. I haven’t seen anything like this in Post 911 New York. Sheer numbers of heavily armed officers in full riot gear, complex tactical crowd dispersal maneuvers, flash bangs, tear gas and cutting edge audio technology were used to totally smash the un-authorized protest.
Police also fired rubber bullets and teargas in Oakland area of Pittsburgh. Mostly at University Of Pittsburgh Students! According to Councilman Bill Peduto Cathedral of Learning surrounded, police giving dispersal orders, helicopters flying low w/ searchlight most of Fifth all Forbes Ave. closed.
Black Hawk and Chinook Helicopters, Gunboats, Armored Humvee’s, at least two Lenco Bears, Secret Command Posts, The Secret Service, The National Guard, Coast Guards, Swat Teams, State Troopers, National, City and County Police, Transit Cops, Security Guards and I swear that I heard the Darth Vador Music play when these guys marched by:
Talk about “Star Wars Defense” Systems!
I can’t wait to see the numbers of lost money by the downtown business’s that the city begged to stay open during the G20 summit only to see their customers “fenced off”.
$20 Million for G20 security, nothing for the “Woman’s Walk For Peace” on Oct. 3rd on the North Side. http://www.womenswalk.org
More Photos:
G20 Summit 2009 Pittsburgh, PA Album 3 – Military Zone!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=114075&id=507894491&l…
Did you think Obama was going to be out there with “the people?” This is the change we all can believe in!
Looking forward also for that. This is a good read. Keep coming. And keep informing readers like me.