Thousands Hold Peaceful March at G-20 Summit

NewYorkTimes
PITTSBURGH — Several thousand demonstrators espousing and denouncing a host of causes converged on downtown Pittsburgh on Friday, chanting, pumping up signs and playing instruments in a peaceful and permitted march calling for solutions to a range of problems that they attributed to the economic policies of the world leaders at the Group of 20 meeting.

Protesters with Iraq Veterans Against the War, wearing fatigues, marched alongside Tibetans chiming cymbals, chanting denunciations of China and waving signs, like one that read “G20 Let’s Talk Tibet.” Another group, Students for Justice in Palestine, assembled on Forbes Avenue and called for an end to “the Israeli occupation.” Others held up signs like “We Say No To Corporate Greed,” and “We say yes to human needs.”

One group held aloft with bamboo poles a giant replica of a dove made of white fabric. A marching band with a French horn, several snare drums and a trombone played amid a sea of black, American and Palestinian flags.

The People’s March, as it was called, was sponsored by the Thomas Merton Center, a Pittsburgh peace organization. It came a day after raucous confrontations between the police and protesters resulted in 66 arrests. At least five people needed medical attention, and about 19 businesses sustained broken windows or other damage.

Observers put Friday’s crowd at 3,000 to 4,000. As demonstrators arrived at the intersection of Grant Street and Forbes Avenue, speakers urged them to fight for a broad array of social issues that they felt had been largely ignored by leaders making global economic policy.

“We need to show the world that G-20 is not welcome in Pittsburgh,” Pete Shell, the director of the Merton center’s antiwar committee, said from the steps of the city-county building, just blocks from the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, where the G-20 meeting was under way.

It was as close as the protesters were able to get to the meeting of world leaders.

“The city has rolled out the red carpet for them,” Mr. Shell said. “But we need to show them that you are the ones we welcome.”

Nathan Smith, 31, a wine seller from Williamsport, Pa., said he drove three hours to attend the rally. “We need good jobs and good health care, and the G-20 isn’t helping that,” said Mr. Smith, who was carrying a sign that said “Capitalism Kills.” “Their policies are undermining jobs and health care.”

A member of the local chapter of Code Pink, a women’s antiwar group, led a protest against the continued presence of American troops in Afghanistan and of Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip.

Rows of stern-faced police officers looked on from the sidewalk, keeping close watch on a group of more than 400 self-described anarchists clad in black.

Before long, singers from the Raging Grannies and workers from the United Steelworkers of America took the stage to talk about the need for jobs.

After more than an hour of speeches, the crowd began to disperse, some wondering aloud whether their messages would be heard by the G-20 leaders.

Cory Perrotte, 20, a student from Duquesne University, was optimistic that it would be difficult for world leaders to ignore thousands in the street.

“They will listen to a certain degree,” he said. “They might not necessarily do anything.”