The Pittsburgh council is preparing for the worst during the G-20 summit this week and has called in more police and federal agents to help deal with the mass amounts of protesters flooding the city. Protesters plan, and have stated that they will air their opposition to “the undemocratic way in which the G20 operates and the decisions the group makes, which affect the more than six billion inhabitants of this planet.”
This looks to be saying that, if were fought against, it doesn’t matter were going balls out in order to prove our point, that we’re right and you’re wrong. Mayor Luke Ravenstahl has made it clear he’s serious about what the protesters will and will not be able to do during this summit.
Ravenstahl has said protesters will be allowed to exercise their constitutional freedom of speech and assembly “within sight and sound” of the summit venue.
It turns out this will be in a strictly delineated area outside of the downtown cultural area where the likes of US President Barack Obama and China’s Hu Jintao will be sitting down with other world leaders.
Ravenstahl has also called in 4,000 highly trained federal police officers to back up local security forces during the summit.
I just see it as a totally bad thing, when anarchists and police meet up with each other. In the grand scheme of things a lot of what the radical protesters argue doesn’t even make sense. They want political freedom and no corrupt business taking control or handling the situation on their own. However, with no government or control, businesses will have free reign on what they can or can not do.
I’m not one to get in the middle of this issue, and it’s going to be evident that if your in town Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday during this week, your going to be looked at as a protester, even if your simply going to work. Be safe, and aware of the situation around you if you have to be downtown, anything can and will certainly happen.
Mon, Sep 21, 2009
Daily, Events