G-20 Protesters Complain To Citizens Police Review Board [WTAE-TV]

Lawrenceville Meeting Airs Community Feedback After Pittsburgh Summit
POSTED: 11:54 pm EDT October 20, 2009, WTAE-TV

PITTSBURGH -- Pittsburgh residents and community activists packed a meeting Tuesday night in Lawrenceville to file complaints and share stories from the G-20 Economic Summit held in the city last month.

Video: Watch Tara Edwards' Report

Those in attendance at the Stephen Foster Community Center spoke before the Citizens Police Review Board, one of a number of groups looking into allegations of police wrongdoing during the summit.

"I have to say, I really enjoyed my stay in Pittsburgh minus the couple days we were brutalized by the police," said Todd Judd, a G-20 protester.

Some people spoke up for those who they said were unfairly treated in the city's Lawrenceville and Oakland neighborhood, or on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh, where police were trying to break up crowds during the G-20 Summit.

"I basically witnessed students getting wrestled like animals into an area, and they were being told to disperse, but they were being chased with rubber bullets and tear gas canisters," said Paradise Gray, a G-20 protester.

Anger has simmered since the G-20 Summit as many people said they felt silenced.

"The mayor and the county controller, whatever he is, they want to pad their resumes for this whole G-20 thing," said Chris Nelms, a G-20 protester. "Don't get in the way. This is not about you, it's about us, it's about the global elites."

This is the first time they have told their accounts in front of an official board.

"This was not a series of isolated abuses, but it was a systematic attack on civil liberties and democracy," said Naomi Archer, a G-20 protester who grabbed the microphone from Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato as he announced his candidacy for governor on Oct. 6. Police whisked Archer off stage and out of the event.

Several Lawrenceville residents also spoke Tuesday night, saying it was their rights that were violated and they are thankful police were there as they watched protesters march and tear through their neighborhood.

"Dumpsters were pushed down one block away down Ligonier Street. Garbage bags (were) overturned. The police were not on 38th Street to harass anyone," a woman said.

Another meeting is scheduled to take place in Oakland.

Charges Dropped Against More G-20 Summit Protesters

Charges were dropped this week against three more people arrested during the G-20 Summit.

Prosecutors said University of Pittsburgh student news photographers Vaughn Wallace and Shane Dunlap, who were working as credentialed journalists, and professor Jared Evans committed no crime.

About 190 people were arrested during the G-20 Summit. Preliminary hearings for many of those defendants are scheduled to begin Wednesday.

Source: http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/allegheny/21356179/detail.html

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