There are 143 documents in the Pittsburgh G-20 Archive category... See anything missing? ACLU Sues City Of Pittsburgh Over G-20 Mass Arrests After Giving Order To Disperse, Police Prevent People From Complying And Then Arrest Them, Lawsuit Claims PITTSBURGH - The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania filed a federal lawsuit today on behalf of 25 people who were swept up in a mass arrest of demonstrators, observers, and passersby in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh hours after the G-20 Summit ended on September 25, 2009. The ACLU argues that police illegally disrupted a peaceful gathering and arrested people who were trying to obey a police order to disperse. The lawsuit alleges police used excessive force during the arrests, gratuitously squirting people with pepper spray and shooting them with pepper-ball bullets. Those arrested were held overnight in tight handcuffs, with some forced to sit outside for hours in the cold and rain in the prison courtyard. [Read more] More than 100 city police officers honored Other honorees included Officer Caytlin Wood, who was off-duty in December when she chased and arrested a man who tried to steal her car at gunpoint; Detective John McBurney, whose undercover drug buys in July ended in the arrests of a couple who were dealing heroin in Lawrenceville; and a team of officers who infiltrated protest groups during the G-20 summit, seeking information for security purposes. Among their strategies, Officers William Churilla, Johnny Ficorilli, Kevin Merkel, David Lincoln, and Dawn Mercurio created fake Facebook and Twitter accounts to gather information on protest plans that officials said helped keep police and protesters safe. [Read more] Judge: Pittsburgh police must provide G-20 reports Pittsburgh police must release to a citizen review board documents related to officer conduct during last year's Group of 20 economic summit, an Allegheny County judge ruled Thursday. Senior Common Pleas Judge R. Stanton Wettick ordered Chief Nate Harper to comply with a request from the Citizen Police Review Board to turn over the reports for its investigation of how police dealt with protesters during the Sept. 24-25 summit. [Read more] Chief ordered to give police review board G-20 reports Pittsburgh Police Chief Nate Harper must give the Citizen Police Review Board detailed reports related to dozens of arrests and police operations during the G-20 summit, a judge ruled Thursday, a decision the board's director said reaffirms its power to study broad issues of police and community relations. [Read more] Bad Timing After two days of testimony in his courtroom, Judge Robert C. Gallo seemed to realize that for some of those arrested in Oakland following last fall's G-20 summit, their only offense was being in the wrong place at the wrong time. But by then, it was too late for three of the four defendants appealing guilty verdicts stemming from the events of Sept. 25. [Read more] City police fight release of G-20 records An Allegheny County judge on Monday heard more arguments about releasing documents related to police conduct during last year's G-20 economic summit. [Read more] Security costs for G-20 summit come in under budget, mayor says The G-20 summit of world leaders cost the city of Pittsburgh $12.24 million -- lower than the council-approved budget, and within expected reimbursements by federal and state agencies, Mayor Luke Ravenstahl said Monday. [Read more] Video: Pittsburgh Hit With Big Legal Bill For G-20 Protests City Being Asked To Pay Attorneys Fees From Economic Summit The legal bill for last year's G-20 summit protests in Pittsburgh is starting to come due, and Team 4 has learned that lawyers for protest groups hit the city with a six-figure bill on Friday. Team 4 investigator Jim Parsons reports that the American Civil Liberties Union is asking a federal judge to award attorneys fees in the amount of $127,000 -- and that's just for the work ACLU lawyers did before the G-20 started. [Read more] Secret Investigation Against G-20 Twitterer Has Minnesota Connection In September 2008, the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, saw considerable pre-emptive arrests of activists and journalists, including raids on independent media spaces and the Tin Can Comms Collective office, which coordinated a series of Twitter feeds during the surrounding protests relating to activist actions, legal support, and street medic teams. This update from an anarchist collective in New York, who saw members raided and arrested for a similar Tin Can Comms Twitter deployment during the September 2009 G-20 protests in Pittsburgh, PA, was reposted anonymously with the above title on Twin Cities Indymedia’s website. Local charges had been dropped against the Pittsburgh G-20 Twitterers because of an ongoing “national” investigation, presumably in lieu of pending but not yet announced federal charges. [Read more] Civil Rights Groups Sue City Of Pittsburgh Over Harassment And Intimidation Of Activists During G-20 The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania and the Center for Constitutional Rights announced today they have filed papers to expand and continue a civil rights lawsuit against the City of Pittsburgh, city officials and police officers for their repeated harassment and intimidation of two climate and environmental-justice organizations whose efforts to organize and support demonstrations during September's G-20 Summit were completely frustrated. [Read more] Complaints Surfacing The large G-20 police presence has brought a number of complaints, including those by women who say they were sexually harassed "Let's get the hot ones out." That's what Casey Li Brander recalls hearing a male police officer say as she sat handcuffed inside a bus, along with 20 other women arrested during the G-20 summit. Brander, like most of those arrested in Oakland during the September summit, faced only minor charges after being caught in a police dragnet. But she and other women say the aftershocks have been far more serious -- because of how law enforcement treated them. [Read more] G-20 Security Price Tag Calculated At $18 Million The figures are in and $18 million has been calculated as the official price tag for protecting the city during the G-20 Summit. The city and county expect to be reimbursed, but they haven't received any money yet. When anarchists took to the streets in September, city and county security forces were ready with specially purchased equipment like LRAD, the deafening long-ranged acoustic device. The city and county bought four of those systems at a cost of more than $100 thousand. [Read more] Citizens Police Review Board hears more stories of abuse from the G-20 On Thursday, the Pittsburgh CPRB met at the Community of Reconciliation Church in Oakland to hear yet another series of stories about police abuses during the G-20. The story is familiar now. The offenses are as well. Normally when around officials, the zero-calorie statement is common. Not at the CPRB, though. "What amazes me in this country is not what we see," said Vice-Chair Richard M. Carrington, "but what we put up with." [Read more] Charges withdrawn against 2 who Twittered police location The Allegheny County District Attorney has dropped all charges against two New York men accused of posting locations of police officers on Twitter during the G-20 summit. [Read more] Seattle to Pittsburgh A Look at North America’s Global Justice Movement Ten Years Later via the G-20 in Pittsburgh This is an in-depth article of the global justice movement through the lens of the Pittsburgh G-20 protests. Through on-the-street coverage, media review and tactical comparisons of other actions, this article explores what happened in Pittsburgh and what needs to change. [Read more] How Could It Be Against the Law to Spread Public Information? An activist shared on Twitter what he heard on his police scanner, and now faces serious federal investigation The hazmat team rushed into Elliot Madison's home in Queens, N.Y., and headed straight for the kombucha tea brewing in a corner, assuming that the outspoken anarchist was concocting a chemical weapon. Now Madison, 41 -- who is under investigation by a federal grand jury for violations of a rarely used anti-riot statute -- has denounced the probe as politically motivated and in violation his constitutional rights. [Read more] Twitter anarchist raided under 'riot' laws An anarchist social worker raided by the feds wants his computers, manuscripts and pick axes back. He argues that authorities violated the U.S. Constitution and the rights of his mentally ill clients while searching for evidence that he broke an anti-rioting law on Twitter. [Read more] A day of lies and poses: Pittsburgh Magistral Court hears G-20 arrests: Day 2 To know a cop's lying in court is painful, but nowhere near as bad as knowing that he's wrong. Watching an entire case of prosecution made with it for over a dozen people is almost unbearable. It's also how Friday was spent at the Pittsburgh Magistrate Court, with a Detective William Friburger of the Pittsburgh NARCO describing the LRAD and police tactics on Sept. 25th in a mix of sports and football metaphors. Friburger is built like a football player, a center or somebody who eats the living. [Read more] 3 more Pittsburgh G-20 protest charges dropped Allegheny County prosecutors have dropped charges against a University of Pittsburgh professor and two school newspaper photographers arrested during the Group of 20 economic summit. [Read more] Chicago police officers accused of forcing man to pose for photo during Pittsburgh G-20 summit The Chicago Police Department is investigating several of its officers accused of forcing a college student they arrested during last month's G-20 summit in Pittsburgh to pose for a group photo with them. The department, which has been dogged by embarrassing allegations of misconduct in recent years, began investigating the Pittsburgh claims after video of the alleged incident was posted on YouTube. [Read more] Chicago police conduct at G-20 summit in Pittsburgh under investigation Video shows officers forcing suspect to pose with them Chicago police are investigating a video of officers who allegedly forced a college student to pose with them after his arrest during last month's G-20 summit in Pittsburgh. [Read more] Pitt students to catch break in G-20 arrests Most of the University of Pittsburgh students arrested during G-20 protests will have the opportunity to clear their records, Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. said Thursday. But what's unclear is how many will have to perform 50 hours of community service in order to get the charges dropped. [Read more] Thomas Merton Center billed $6K for G20 police services In the latest of a series of harassing, inept and downright laughable moves, the Pittsburgh police have billed the Thomas Merton Center for $6,346 for “police services” during the G-20 Peoples’ March – despite the fact that the police didn’t do their job of blocking the street when the rally began in Oakland. This violates the ordinance written in 2003 that states that organizations that can’t afford it don’t have to pay. [Read more] Charges dropped against PG reporter arrested during G-20 The Allegheny County district attorney's office has dropped charges against a Post-Gazette reporter arrested while covering a protest in Oakland during the G-20 summit. Sadie Gurman, 24, was one of more than 100 people, including many students and several other journalists, swept up by police on the night of Sept. 25 near Pitt's Cathedral of Learning. She had been charged with failure to disperse and disorderly conduct. [Read more] During G-20, police linked with texting Pittsburgh police were all thumbs when it came to tracking protesters' movements during the Group of 20 summit. Authorities used a secure, group text-messaging service offered for free to the city by start-up company Nixle to coordinate communication among the estimated 5,700 officers used for the summit. Radio broadcasts alone wouldn't have been enough, said Lt. Charles Rodriguez. [Read more] The Crackdown on Pittsburgh Democracy Denied, While Criminality Applauded During the days of the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh, PA, our citizenry witnessed an astounding spectacle and display of military might in the city we love and call home. To the dismay of many, our pedestrian friendly, getting-to-be-attractive downtown was turned into a military base resembling that more likely to be seen in third-world nations run by murderous dictators. Oakland, one of the more attractive neighborhoods for visitors, students, and residents, became a running battlefield dominated by armored police forces carrying offensive weapons that turned our streets into a cheap imitation of Baghdad. [Read more] Lawsuits would make city the latest test case When Pittsburgh police ordered an Oakland crowd to disperse hours after the Sept. 25 end of the G-20 summit and then arrested scores of people, they marched down a path that has led other cities into lawsuits and seven-figure settlements. Witold "Vic" Walczak, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, said his group is "carefully considering" litigation over the mass arrests in Oakland amid allegations that police violated people's constitutional rights. [Read more] Pittsburgh police say many benefits gained after preparing for G-20 Pittsburgh police say they will continue to benefit from the millions of dollars spent to prepare for the Group of 20 summit. "We spent months getting ready for this and it was a lot of preparation, but we'll see the dividends of that for a long time to come," Public Safety Director Michael Huss said. "It was invaluable to us." Huss said the summit forced the city to upgrade equipment and undergo hundreds of hours of civil disturbance training from the Department of Homeland Security. [Read more] The Twitterest Pill Policing Dissent in the Information Age Ahh, remember the Summer of Tweet-Love? Those heady days in June 09, when pundits and cable news anchors sang the praises of their beloved social media platform Twitter? Remember how we changed our Facebook profile pics to Green in solidarity with Iranian protestors? [Read more] LRAD lets police have loudest word Of the many voices shouting for attention on the streets of Pittsburgh during the G-20 summit, one voice dominated with a controversial yet simple message: "By order of Pittsburgh chief of police, I hereby declare this an unlawful assembly. I order all those assembled to immediately disperse." On the first day of the summit, Pittsburgh police unveiled the Long Range Acoustic Device, or LRAD, a sophisticated speaker system that can blast a clear, recorded dispersal order and be heard up to a quarter-mile away. [Read more] Pittsburgh police play it safe when using Long Range Acoustic Device Pittsburgh police stuck to the lowest volume setting on a long-range hailing system they used to order protesters to disperse during the Group of 20 summit in Pittsburgh, SWAT team officers said during a demonstration of the device Thursday. Known as the Long Range Acoustic Device, or LRAD, police officers turned the highly focused loudspeaker on a group of reporters and television cameras gathered in the police headquarters parking lot for a demonstration. [Read more] Long Range Acoustical Device - LRAD PITTSBURGH: On Thursday, September 24th, 2009 during the G20 Economic Summit in Pittsburgh the initial use of the LRAD System was conducted in the Lawrenceville area in efforts to disperse an unruly crowd of demonstrators. The system was highly effective in delivering dispersal orders to the demonstrators. The system was also successfully used in Oakland on the evenings of September 24th and 25th to assist with the dispersal of disorderly crowds. [Read more] Video: "G20: A Full Story" The Pitt News attempts to correlate all the video, photos, and reporting about the G20 demonstrations over the past two weeks in one 12 minute piece. Some questions will be answered, more will be raised. [Read more] N.Y. man to stand trial on charges related to G-20 protests After Allen Weber hurled a smoke grenade back at police during a G-20 protest in Oakland last month, he threw his hands in the air "like he had just scored a touchdown." A large crowd then cheered. City police Officer Brian Nicholas, of the SWAT team, described the scene yesterday at Mr. Weber's preliminary hearing in Pittsburgh Municipal Court. [Read more] 3 reviews expected of Pittsburgh G-20 policing The Pittsburgh police response to protesters of the Group of 20 economic summit will be reviewed by at least three groups. [Read more] Rights activists see double standard in Twitter arrest The arrest of a New Yorker for using Twitter to alert protesters to police movements at a meeting of world leaders in Pittsburgh last month would be deemed a human rights violation if it happened in Iran or China, rights activists charge. Pittsburgh police arrested Elliot Madison, 41, on September 24 as hundreds of people -- some throwing rocks and breaking shop windows -- protested on the first day of a summit of the Group of 20 rich and developing nations. [Read more] Attorney: Info sent to G-20 protesters via Twitter was public The attorney for one of two men arrested during last month's G-20 summit for sending Twitter messages to help protesters argues that they were merely passing along public information. The two were relaying to protesters "what routes they might take, where police have said don't go, and things of that nature," said attorney Martin R. Stolar. Noting that police had made the information available on the Internet, Stolar said, "I don't see any way that you can criminalize passing on information that the police have put out publicly." [Read more] Use Of L-RAD On G-20 Demonstrators Draws Criticism During the G-20 Summit, advancing protestors on Penn Avenue were met with a mechanical voice emanating from a speaker atop a SWAT truck followed by a piercing sound – a high-pulsing shrill set just below levels that can cause permanent hearing damage. Police say it was a humane way to stop advancing demonstrators during the G-20 Summit, but protestors call L-RAD a frightening weapon. [Read more] Pittsburgh's Police State: Giving the First Amendment a Beating at the G-20 Law enforcement officials have, over the past decade, used gatherings of national and international leaders as license to suspend civil liberties. During the recent G-20 Summit, Pittsburgh proved to be no exception. The city was transformed into a police state where our most cherished freedoms, especially the freedom to dissent, were subject to the martial law-type tactics I witnessed behind the Iron Curtain. [Read more] Protestors Post Police Scanner Recordings Online (Includes the police scanner audio files mentioned) Did police go too far while working to contain protestors on the last night of the G-20 Summit Protest groups who have posted tapes on the internet say they are proof the police intended to trap the people who gathered on the University of Pittsburgh's Quad and Schenley Plaza. "Hammer and anvil" was the code name for security operations in Oakland the final night of the summit. "We need to attempt encirclement of this crowd. We're just going to do a sweep and check and arrest if necessary," an officer said on one of the recordings. [Read more] Pittsburgh protests repression In the wake of the lockdown of their city for the meeting of the Group of 20 largest economies, more than 200 students, activists and others residents came together October 1 for a rally and speak-out. The action, called "Oakland Unites for First Amendment Rights," came a week after security forces locked down portions of the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, the area housing the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, many hospitals and one of the destinations of Michelle Obama during the G20 summit. [Read more] Men arrested for G-20 Twittering say it's free speech Police claim tweets aided protesters' criminal activity The quick evolution of technology has changed the way Americans do almost everything, including how law enforcement combats crime, and consequently, how criminals elude law enforcement. Those two concepts converged during the G-20 summit, when state police arrested two New York men for using Twitter to inform protesters in Pittsburgh about the movements of local officers. [Read more] Arrest Puts Focus on Protesters' Texting As demonstrations have evolved with the help of text messages and online social networks, so too has the response of law enforcement. On Thursday, F.B.I. agents descended on a house in Jackson Heights, Queens, and spent 16 hours searching it. The most likely reason for the raid: a man who lived there had helped coordinate communications among protesters at the Group of 20 summit in Pittsburgh. [Read more] New York pair accused of directing protesters during G-20 in Pittsburgh State police have accused two anarchists from New York of using cell phones and the Internet messaging service Twitter to direct the movements of protesters during the Group of 20 summit in Pittsburgh. [Read more] When They Kick Out Your Front Door, How You Gonna Come? On October 1st, 2009, at 6:00am, the Joint Terrorism Task Force (a union of local police departments and the FBI), kicked out the front door to our home—an anarchist collective house in Queens, NY, affectionately known as Tortuga. The first crashes of the battering ram were quickly followed by more upstairs, as the police broke in on 3 sleeping people, destroying bedroom doors that were unlocked. [Read more] The reluctant poster boy Pitt student photographed in humiliating pose with police These days, Kyle Kramer finds himself juggling emotions of anger, confusion -- and a strong desire not to become anyone's symbol. But whether he likes it or not, the University of Pittsburgh senior was the focus of one of the most compelling images to come out of last month's G-20 protests on that school's campus -- a grainy video posted on YouTube showing a line of police in riot gear posing for a group photograph, with a young man in handcuffs they'd just arrested, kneeling before them on the street. [Read more] Queens 'terror' raid hits G-20 anarchist FBI anti-terrorism agents raided the Queens home of a self-described anarchist charged with tweeting protesters with instructions on how to evade police at the G-20 summit. [Read more] NEW G20 DOCUMENTARY! Democracy 101 A look at the Pittsburgh G20 protests from the makers of "Terrorizing Dissent"  Made in Pittsburgh within five days of the G20 summit by a team from Pittsburgh Indymedia, Twin Cities Indymedia, Chicago Indymedia, Glassbead Collective, and Mobile Broadcast News, a new documentary: "Democracy 101 (Rough Cut)". Democracy 101 is a look at the policing and pattern of issues that arise during National Special Security Events. Made with footage from the recent repression of dissent in Pittsburgh, salvaged from the broken cameras, stolen video and arrested reporters, and independent journalists from around the country. [Read more]Pitt students told to query officials on G-20 People who were on the University of Pittsburgh campus during the G-20 summit said yesterday they had questions about police behavior, and today, they plan to ask those questions. At a peaceful rally last night outside the student union in Oakland, people handed out fliers that listed the phone numbers of Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, County Executive Dan Onorato, city police Chief Nate Harper and university Chancellor Mark Nordenberg. [Read more] No stampede and 100 arrests An old saying goes "When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail." The corollary might be that when police don riot gear, everyone looks like a rioter. I'd written a post-mortem on the G-20 as it was ending Friday, little knowing that duck-duck-goose games would break out among college students in Oakland later. Soon after, police arrested more than 100 people, many of them students as well as a handful of journalists. That stemmed any threat the situation in Schenley Plaza might escalate to Ring Around the Rosie. [Read more] |
|
|||||
Academic Source | Activist Group | American Civil Liberties Union | The American Jewish World | Amnesty International | Associated Press | Austin American-Statesman | Austin Chronicle | The Austin Informant Working Group | City Pages | CNN | Committee to Protect Journalists | Communities United Against Police Brutality | Community RNC Arrestee Support Structure (CRASS) | Congressional Quarterly Today | Connecticut Local Politics | crimethinc.com | The Daily Show with Jon Stewart | Defense Technology/Federal Laboratories | Democracy Now! | Des Moines Register | Digital Journal | Federal Bureau of Investigation | Flickr.com | Fox 9 (Fox News affiliate) | Free Speech TV | Glass Bead Collective | Gnooze.com | The Guardian | Huffington Post | i-Witness Video | Indian Express | Indymedia | Kare 11 (NBC affiliate) | Kentucky Kernal | KSTP Eyewitness 5 (ABC affiliate) | Legal Firms | Malarky News | Minneapolis City Council | Minneapolis Police Department | Minneapolis Saint Paul 2008 RNC Host Committee | Minneapolis Star Tribune | Minnesota Daily | Minnesota Independent | Minnesota Monitor | Minnesota Public Radio | MinnPost | Minnesota State Legislature | Mobile Broadcast News | MPLS Mirror | National Lawyers Guild Minnesota | National Press Photographers Association | New Orleans Gambit Weekly | The New York Observer | The New York Times | nigelparry.com | PBS | Poynter Institute | The Rag Blog | Ramsey County District Court | Ramsey County Sheriff's Office | Reporters Committee For Freedom of the Press | Reporters sans frontieres | RNC '08 Report | RNC 8 | RNC Welcoming Committee | Security Source | States News Service | Society of Professional Journalists | St. Paul City Council | St. Paul Legal Ledger | St. Paul Pioneer Press | St. Paul Police Department | Submedia.tv | The Texas Observer | Truthdig | Twin Cities Daily Planet | Twitter.com | The Uptake | U.S. Department of Defense | United Press International | Variety | The Washington Times | WCCO (CBS affiliate) | Xinhua News Agency 
Coldsnap Legal Collective | Communities United Against Police Brutality (CUAPB) | Community RNC Arrestee Support Structure (CRASS) | Friends of the RNC 8 | Glass Bead Collective | Ground Noise and Static documentary | Help Dave Mahoney | The Milwalkee Three | National Lawyers Guild (Minneapolis) | RNC Commission Report & Executive Summary | Support the Texas Two | Terrorizing Dissent documentary | Twin Cities Indymedia | ||||||
| | ||||||
