Pittsburgh police arrested at least 14 protesters on Wednesday as security was ramped up dramatically on the eve of the G20 summit.
Most of those detained were activists from the Greenpeace pressure group, caught as they abseiled from one of Pittsburgh's iconic river bridges to deploy a banner reading: "Danger. Climate destruction ahead."
Pittsburgh police headquarters said the demonstrators had been arrested at the scene on suspicion of "possession of instruments of a crime, disorderly conduct, conspiracy and obstruction" ...WHICH IS COMPLETELY FALSE!!!
The leaders of the world's 19 biggest national economies plus the European Union have begun to arrive in Pittsburgh for two days of talks on the economic crisis and climate change.
Ahead of their arrival, Pittsburgh has beefed up security with thousands of extra police officers and a huge steel security, seeking to avoid a repeat of the violence that marred April's G20 summit in London.
Three secure areas in the heart of the city near the conference venue have been designated as official protest zones, but access to the summit sites itself will be strictly controlled.
US secret service officers are due to conduct an overnight sweep to ensure the conference center and related buildings are safe, and mounted officers and hazardous materials units are deployed nearby.
City leaders hope to use the summit to showcase Pittsburgh's remarkable economic turnaround from dilapidated former steel capital to a thriving hub of high technology industries.
Small businesses, however, were taking few chances on the eve of the talks. Many plan to shut during the two day meeting, and workmen were boarding over shop windows in the downtown business district.
Previous global summits have attracted serious crowd problems, in North America most famously in at the 1999 World Trade Organisation meeting in Seattle, when anarchists among a 40,000 strong crowd battled police.
The most recent G20 summit in London also saw violent scenes, and British police were criticized after footage filmed during the demonstration showed an officer beating a bystander who later died.
Several groups have announced plans to hold what they saw will be peaceful protests in Pittsburgh, including Greenpeace, which wants leaders to commit tens of billions of dollars to encouraging third world emissions cuts.
"Eight Greenpeace activists scaled the iconic West End Bridge and dropped an 80 foot by 30 foot (24 meters by 9 meters) banner off the side at about 10:45 am," Greenpeace campaign coordinator Gabe Wisniewski told AFP.
Pittsburgh's 29-nine-year-old mayor Luke Ravenstahl has said protesters will be allowed to exercise their constitutional freedom of speech and assembly "within sight and sound" of the summit venue.
Ravenstahl has also called in 4,000 federal police officers to back up local security forces during the summit.
On Wednesday, workers' and environmentalist movements will be holding a concert, which 10,000 people are expected to attend.
The following day around 1,000 people are expected to march towards the summit venue in a protest organized by the Pittsburgh G20 Resistance Project.
DO NOT TAKE THE SWINE-FLU VACCINE!!!!
MAY THE LORD BLESS YOU AND
YOUR FAMILY
IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST!!!!
Anyone notice that it was uploaded Sept, 29 2009?
dslanker 2 months ago 8
@rabidgoldfish65 this was Pittsburg, Pennsylvania during the WTO protests in 2009
wizdumb420 2 months ago 4