PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center

Details of Sunday's breakaway march
by Pgh IMC collaboration! Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2003 at 6:26 PM
info@indypgh.org (email address validated)

The initial minute-by-minute reports PLUS some more description added later.

3:37pm -- BREAKAWAY MARCH -- a breakaway march has left the SEI area in an unpermitted march on dithridge avenue towards forbes. plainclothes police are trailing the group. the black-bloc is leading the group with a "no war between nations no peace between classes banner." breakaway march is moving west on forbes avenue near the cathedral of learning -- two lanes have been taken, the march is charging into oncoming traffic. more news as it comes in...

A few of the marchers were the people in cadaver-like make-up who formed or participated in a drum circle on Fifth Avenue near the Software Engineering Institute right before the march. One woman marcher wore a pirate hat. Many had a very noticeable coating of snow on their hair.

The marchers made impromptu decisions as a group about which way to turn. At some intersections, two or more different ideas were called out. Someone suggested going downtown. A police officer moving in front of the marchers on a motorcycle-type vehicle often asked them at intersections which way they wanted to go.


3:42pm -- breakaway march have turned north on bigelow blvd. police are attempting to follow the march on motorcycles but have been unsure of which direction to anticipate. pitt police are all around the campus, presumably to deal with the power outage and various alarms that were triggered by it.

On Meyran Avenue heading from Fifth to Forbes Ave., the crowd paused in front of the military recruiting office. A sound like breaking glass was heard. A broken window? A green object was then thrown at a window in the same area.

4:00pm -- the march has come back across bigelow blvd on forbes, possibly going down towards schenley park.

4:05crossing craig street going towards CMU
crossing craig street going towards CMU 4:05

4:06 turned left on Craig St going towards Fifth Ave

4:11 Police: redirecting traffic around Central Catholic

4:13 Roving Workman: Down in front of SEI. People still dying in and have been there for over an hour. Still 4 people dying in. A small crowd around them. Police are still in front of the SEI.

4:15Heading towards Centre. Dwindling numbers, about 40-50. Some people stopped down by Schenley Plaza. Marchers worried that would be trapped at Fifth Ave, but that didn't happen.

4:24Andy M. -- Breakaway march has turned up Centre ave. May go all the way down to Shadyside."I don't know where we're going, I don't think anybody knows where we're going." Motorcycle cops ahead and City cops far ahead. Also a number of cops on horses and other cops behind. Still about 40 people. It's quieted down, people are getting tired.

On most if not all of Centre Avenue—the apparently less affluent part—bystanders were sparse, but a middle-aged to elderly man scraping a car told nearby marchers that he supports their actions.

4:26Radio chatter - police believe that the breakaway is heading down into Shadyside, perhaps to the military recruiting station there. At the recruiting station on Meyran, one protestor reportedly threw a "water balloon filled with a suspicious liquid."

4:39Call out to people to come out to the die-in to bring blankets and food.


In Shadyside, the marchers passed through a commercial area. Onlookers were more plentiful here. A marcher shouted a comment about “slave labor” at a man who stood outside a Gap store watching the procession. Passing a Starbucks, the marchers booed, and someone yelled, “How does slave labor taste?” at patrons who watched from tables inside.

4:42Big group heading from Centre->Fifth ave. Crossing a four lane bridge in the streets. Carrying a banner.

The marchers made their way away from storefronts and through a residential neighborhood in Shadyside. On a street corner, a man crouched down to talk with a small boy, his companion, as the shouting marchers passed. Marchers took up the chant, “…We don’t want your racist war.” Another version of the chant which was chanted with about equal frequency over the course of the breakaway march was, “…We don’t want your f - - - ing war.”
On the bridge, at least seven or eight police vehicles moved with the marchers. One car turned on its sirens and tried to move from the back to the front of the crowd. Many marchers gave siren-like hoots in response.

4:56Mounted police overheard saying -- "we're going to let traffic run through the protest." Most of the mounted police have left. Only one car with police lights on right behind the protestors. Protest is proceeding down Fifth near the Oakland Catholic. Traffic is now being allowed to follow the protest very close behind. Fair amount of traffic backed up on Fifth ave.

Returning westward toward Oakland on Fifth Avenue, marchers covered the right-hand half of the street while leaving the left-hand half of the street clear enough for traffic to flow. Many persons in the eastbound vehicles honked, waved, and/or shouted words of support.

5:15 The police have asked people to leave the die-in and everyone is going. The crowd is dispersing.

5:27The crowd is completely gone. The breakaway march came back to the die-in and as the police asked people to leave, everybody cheered. No arrests have been reported. One report of a broken window at the Meyran Street Marine Corps Recruiting station, apparently broken with a flag pole.

-- compiled mainly by MAT/ARM/CJB

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