community-based, non-corporate, participatory media
first hand account of m30 anti-war protest
by anti-war pburgher
Sunday, Mar. 30, 2003 at 7:55 PM
swissvale/edgewood police use unnecessary force on peaceful demonstrators
i stood in the cold listening to the rally at about 2:15 near the frick park playground. a diverse crowd of about 300 was present. after the last speaker finished, we moved northwest to the corner of frick park at
forbes ave and braddock. two officers stood nearby. down braddock to our left were quite a few police cars and paddywagons. after waiting for everyone to assemble, we stepped off the sidewalk into he street, going right on braddock ave. the march proceeded at a moderate pace a few blocks down the street as a group of about six masked protestors emerged in the front behind the black 'no blood for oil' sign. i was behind them most of the time at the front of the march. i witnessed no movement/ damage of property or any other potentially provacative actions the entire time. no protesters touched vehicles or police, and there was no rock-throwing contrary to kdka news. the only expletive used was present in a chan and was not directed at police. many photographers were present.
at a stoplight a few blocks down, several officers (without large batons or riot gear) stood scattered before the intersection. as we passed they told us to get back onto the sidewalk while pushing protesters who passed by them to the right. this line of cops included one very large aggressive officer who was responsible for much of the brutality that would occur in the next few minutes.
we continued walking and flashing peace signs at cars to our left. some police in cars flashed signs back. most of the confrontation occured not with the pittsburgh police, but with police from the edgewood and swissvale departments. a little further into the route, police began to push people onto the sidewalk more forcefully. the big cop broke up the group holding the banner. i linked arms with the people on either side of me as we continued moving forward. one officer said 'i'm giving you one warning to stay out of the streets,' while shaking a can of pepper spray.
at about 3:15 pm, i saw a mist of brown spray fly through the air over the heads of the crowd behind me, as chants and drumming became quieter and some people cried out. i moved onto the sidewalk with many others and hurriedly put on swimming goggles. i went back out into the street behind the banner with a few others as we passed the cops, continuously looking over my shoulder, as cops came from the back left pushing people towards to the right.
the large angry officer then stood in front of us (about four or five people holding the banner) and sprayed a fire extinguisher- size cannister of pepper spray about 2 feet away. i put my head down behind the banner as a mist of spray covered me and those around me. the mask and goggles i was wearing helped greatly but the spray's pungent vapor burned the insideof my nose.
we moved onto the sidewalk coughing, and the big cop moved after us, indiscriminately spraying the group of about 10 gathering on the sidewalk, waving the can from left to right and pushing people. i was on the right of the group on the sidewalk. i learned later that a man with a bullhorn was arrested from this group from the sidewalk by about 5 officers as approximately 8 protesters tried to pull him from the police.
i watched as people walked out of the small crowd and past it onto the sidewalk, their faces brownish orange with spray. i saw a friend ahead laying on the sidewalk right past the group, rubbing her face and eyes. i stepped over her to face the scuffle between the protestors on the sidewalk and the police in the street. i knelt and poured water on her face, then passed the bottle around, next to the retired police officer. a few more people gathered around, and as my bottle of water was used up, someone else came by with more water. a woman poured more water over my friend's face, as she struggled to hold her eyes open. i later heard that very young children indirectly came into contact with pepper spray.
we finally stood up shakily and began to walk on the sidewalk, down braddock, then turning right, and marching back into the brick street parallel to braddock, then took another right onto the sidewalk a few blocks later. police cars followed protestors as they dispersed on a street corner of braddock near frick park's tennis courts.
Great Account
by wheatpaster
Sunday, Mar. 30, 2003 at 9:40 PM
Great job on this account. We need more accurate personal stories about 3/30 getting out there. On 3/20, when the mainstream media reported police spokespersons accounts rather than eye witnesses, posts like this one helped reverse the damage. Look what they now know about 3/20/03 in St. Petersburg Florida:
http://www.sptimes.com/2003/03/30/Columns/Rules_of_war_apply_to.shtml
We can reverse the untruths, people are listening.
We were there.
by Grums
Sunday, Mar. 30, 2003 at 10:08 PM
We went expecting a peaceful march to end this hateful war. It was peaceful. We did not see one protester act in any disrespectful manner. It appeared that the Pittsburgh police were allowing us our Constitutional rights and some even supporting the event. Swissvale, on the other hand, appeared to be agitated and looking for a fight. We were told to get up on the sidewalks, which we did, on both sides of the road. Then the police told us we were not permitted to assemble on the sidewalks and to disperse. Since when did peaceful assembly on public sidewalks get taken out of our Constitution? The middle of the night, perhaps! We then saw the first chemical weapon victim. A young girl who was being assisted by a Pgh. female police officer. She had been pepper sprayed in the eyes. We left. Those police were out of line for no reason. Once we made it back to our vehicle, we had a difficult time leaving town, as police were everywhere following groups of Dispersed people on the side streets. We will be back for PEACE!
account of pepper spray
by becky
Sunday, Mar. 30, 2003 at 10:33 PM
Hey y'all. I was one of the people sprayed today. Here's what went down from my perspective.
The cops took the pepper spray out of their cars when I was around D's Six Pack Shop. I would estimate the time to be around 3:30. Those of us in the middle of the march started shouting to the people up front "pepper spray! they have pepper spray!" as the police were starting to shake up the cans. As we were descending down towards the beer distributor, I saw someone running towards the front. I followed through the crowd, to see what was happening. About 3-5 houses down from the beer distributor, I saw the extremely large officer tear into the crowd and grab a young man in a blue hoodie with dark hair. I got into the pile and tried to help everyone pull him from the officer. The officer then stepped back and sprayed the OC straight into my face. I actually felt drops of it on my forehead. After that, I couldn't see and just stumbled around.
WE WERE ABSOLUTELY ON THE SIDEWALK. THE COP WHO SPRAYED WAS ON THE STREET, MAYBE 5-7 FEET AWAY FROM US. I was actually up against someone's lawn when I was sprayed.
Earlier in the march, after the large cop told us "get on the sidewalk", I did see two protesters run across the street to be with others. Besides this, I only saw us on the sidewalk.
I was wondering what the hell we can do about this?
Thank you to everyone who was so awesome to me and all the other OC victims today. Just when I thought I couldn't be more proud to be part of this community...
becky
by go home
Sunday, Mar. 30, 2003 at 10:43 PM
If you look at the Quicktime video posted the first time that officer used pepper spray was after several warnings to go to the sidewalk, yet people still were in the street. Sorry, they lose.
As for you getting sprayed, I want you to go back and reread what you just posted. I'll give you a second to do so..
All done? Ok, now here's the lesson you need to learn:
If the police are arresting someone, you are not allowed to "help everyone pull him from the officer." That is illegal and you're lucky you didn't get arrested. It doesn't matter if the person is on the sidewalk or on the street. Legally the cops can arrest anyone they want. It's always been that way. If the arrest is illegal you have to deal with it after it is done, you can't try to prevent it. For all you know the cop recognized the man you were trying to "protect" as a serial rapist or a wanted felon. Either way you have to suck it up and deal.
go home you don't get it
by name required
Monday, Mar. 31, 2003 at 9:33 AM
What's legal or isn't legal has nothing to do with anything in this city.
When drunk steelers fans tailgate at the end of our street and shout obscenities at little African American kids, that's illegal right? I should call the police right? They'll arrest them right? Wrong! Pgh police would laugh in my face - hell, some of those tailgaters probably are police!
So forget the "law." The police decide which laws they enforce here and which ones they don't. They didn't need to enforce the law on anyone yesterday - the march was almost done - and they definitely did not need to inflict physical harm. Get real.
What worried me most yesterday was that a good proportion of those cops LOVED every minute of it, with, I have to say, a few exceptions of Pgh police who looked very freaked out (I saw one yelling into his radio for "medical assistance," totally panicked). There are some reasonable, professional cops out there - unfortunately it's the big skinheads who rule.
Want conflict? You got it.
by Doesn't Matter
Tuesday, Apr. 01, 2003 at 1:06 PM
Will you people please stop crying about being pepper sprayed? You SOUGHT OUT conflict by blocking the streets of downtown Pittsburgh instead of holding your rally somewhere where it wouldn't cause a disturbance to the other residents of this city, who also own those streets, and many of whom disagree with your opinions. Unless you did not think your actions through at all you should have known that what you were doing would cause a disturbance. You therefore were actively seeking conflict. It's even worse if you didn't realize that beforehand. You went looking for conflict so you could get press, and you got it. Mission accomplished. Now you can bad mouth the police. You've created your own self-reinforcing government "oppression." Hooray. Stop crying.
so...
by go home
Tuesday, Apr. 01, 2003 at 3:15 PM
name required, you've called the PGH Police on tailgaters then? I assume you have and they refused to do anything or else you wouldn't make such an absurd statement. The 2 times I called the police to break up the tailgate parties happening in front of my house everyone was told to leave and they did, so no one needed to be arrested. If they had refused (like you're little crowd did on Sunday) they would have been arrested. If there were 400 of them and only a handful of cops they would have been sprayed.
huh?
by erin
Tuesday, Apr. 01, 2003 at 8:47 PM
we were'nt asked to leave when many were sprayed, when we were, everyone kept walking and dispersed.
we were asked to get on the sidewalk, and 400 people cannot instantly find room to get on the sidewalk, furthermore MANY people got on the sidewalk as soon as the police asked, and were still sprayed.
but of course thats there own fault for trying to peacefully demonstrate and express thier views.
whoops.....
Yes
by Doesn't Matter
Tuesday, Apr. 01, 2003 at 9:38 PM
Yes, it is their own fault. You're twisting the meaning of peaceful. Just because they were not actively attacking people does not mean they weren't causing a disturbance. They knew going down there that they were going to snarl up traffic and piss people off. Therefore, they were seeking conflict. They had numerous alternatives to shutting down a portion of a fairly large city, but they chose to force their views on others and cause a disturbance. Once again, they sought out conflict, and they got it. It wasn't forced upon them.
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