 in the press Police, Mayor Respond To G-20 Claims Of Excessive Force Protesters Arrested During Economic Summit In Pittsburgh Downtown and Oakland streets are back to normal following last week's G-20 summit, but some people are upset with the response by law enforcement during protests of the global economic gathering in Pittsburgh. Pittsburgher Nathan Lanzandorfer showed reporters his bruises during a news conference at the Thomas Merton Center on Monday morning. The 23-year-old man said he got those marks when police shot him with bean bags as they tried to control a large crowd at Schenley Plaza on Friday night. "They're all on my back, which means I was not opposing them, was not confronting them," Lanzandorfer said, adding that he didn't hear any dispersal orders and was following other people when he got hit. Police arrested some 200 protesters over the course of last week's G-20 summit. "What I saw happen that night was a police riot, an uncontrollable police riot," said witness Casey Capitolo, an environmental activist. Channel 4 Action News Ari Hait reported that a number of people calling themselves "independent journalists" joined the news conference to discuss what they saw. Melissa Hill said she was arrested on Friday and her camera was damaged and police took her video footage. She said she was held for about six hours and hasn't been told what charges she faces. "Whatever happens in these events, whatever your opinion is about these national special security events, we're not going to learn anything about them and there's not going to be any freedom of information when journalists are targeted, when they're arrested, when they have their cameras broken and their footage confiscated," said Nigel Parry, who helped organize the news conference. A number of YouTube videos shot on and around the University of Pittsburgh's campus in Oakland show the confrontation between protesters and police on camera. "Some of the complaints we received are from parents whose children are students at Pitt and were caught up in the melee," said Elizabeth Pettinger, director of the city's Citizens Police Review Board. Police maintain they were forced into action after repeated requests to disperse were ignored. Officers arrested nearly 200 people during the course of the summit last week. Only a handful remained in jail on Monday. The Citizens Police Review Board said it has received 50 complaints of excessive force. "None of the commanders or supervisors who were out there came forward with any of that type of information," Police Chief Nate Harper said Monday, during a separate news conference with city leaders. "I think -- as a whole -- the police department responded admirably," Mayor Luke Ravenstahl said at the news conference. "I'm not going to sit here and get into individual events or scenarios." The city's public safety director, Michael Huss, said more than 3,000 officers were assigned to G-20 details. Most of them were not Pittsburgh police officers. Two separate investigations are planned -- one by the city and one by the Citizens Police Review Board. "Our evaluation is internal for all of G-20, and it was planned before G-20 began," Harper said. "We're getting a lot of information, and we have to determine if it's credible and go from there," Pettinger said. Angry protesters have assembled an e-mail campaign. Anyone who feels police acted unlawfully can fill out a form on www.bailoutthepeople.org. The e-mail will be sent to city, state and federal officials, as well as to the media. "We're going to be continuing this campaign. We think that all the charges should be dropped because that was a political oppression when they made those arrests. That's the only reason they did that," said Peter Shell, the co-chairman of the Anti-War Committee. 
more from this section  • Pittsburgh's Mellon Green finally unoccupied, Bill Vidonic, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Thursday, February 9th, 2012  • The revolution will be televised, streamed and uploaded, Amanda Lin Costa, European Journalism Centre, Thursday, January 26th, 2012 • Living our Lives project: Nigel Parry, Patrick Young, LivingOurLives.net, Friday, January 13th, 2012 • 'It's All Political': Eviction and Arrests of Global Revolution Livestreamers Part of Pattern of Crackdowns on Alternative Living, Kristen Gwynne, AlterNet, Wednesday, January 4th, 2012 • Occupy Livestream Operators Will Be Homeless After They Get Out of Jail, Adam Martin, The Atlantic Wire, Wednesday, January 4th, 2012 • Off the grid: Occupy Pittsburgh gets charged up the natural way, Darlene White Natale, Point Park News Service, Sunday, November 6th, 2011 • #OccupyPGH Day 1: Interview with Global Revolution's Nigel Parry, Eric Byler, Coffee Party, Saturday, October 15th, 2011 • Facts and myths in the WikiLeaks/Guardian saga, Glenn Greenwald, Salon.com, Friday, September 2nd, 2011 |
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