Pragmatic Protests

Today was the first day of the G20 summit in Pittsburgh, and it was quite eventful. More important than the public spectacle it became was the insight I got from being at the protests. I wanted to get a good view of both sides, so I not only talked with and interacted with the security forces, but I also participated in an unsanctioned protest march.

I'm not an unrealistic hippy / anarchist who thinks they should be allowed to smash windows, etc., but I'm also someone who feels the constitution does grant us the explicit right to peaceful protest (public marches, demonstrations, speeches, etc.). I've also been around a good amount of law enforcement / military types to have sympathy for their concerns as well.

By the end of the march, I found a lot of flaws in the police tactics. Firstly, the whole practice needs a good dose of pragmatism. The question of whether protests are achieving anything real is for another post, but the question is how to balance free speech, security and the public good (ie broken windows, inconveniencing others, etc.).

Today's events show the limits of blunt force policing. From their angle, these must be their goals: protect G20 summit from real security threats, prevent damage to property, and ensure public safety & convenience. Their tactics were typical a large display of manpower in force along with light armor and psy-ops (sound equipment, formations, etc.), but they failed to achieve the last two goals.

From my vantage point, if you want to accomplish those goals you need to wield power with discretion – not bluntly. The city should have issued the protest permit, closed down Penn and allowed them into downtown outside of the secure zone. This way traffic would have been predictably routed onto Liberty and the protesters could march at will to downtown in peace.

I don't think everyone was there to start a fight – most were happy to chant and wave signs. The protests started off very calm – people were happy, but as the police continued to confront them, everyone became pissed off and police force was stepped up even further. Not only did this lead to many being gassed and beaten, but also severely disrupted many neighborhoods by playing cat and mouse with the protesters.

This all could have been avoided if they just let them go downtown. The fences were already in place to keep most protesters back, and anyone who crossed the barriers would be the troublemakers who deserve to be confronted.

Force must be wielded with a focus on achieving the overall goals – not just security at all costs.

Comments

[Josh]

from what I understand (based on what Noah with resistg20 has said in the past week), no permit was ever even requested. They wanted a march with no permit. Given the fact that other groups were granted permits, I can only assume they didn't request one because they were worried they'd get it. Marching "illegally" gets you a lot more press and angsty marchers than having a permitted march.

[medicman]

The police did the proper things to stop the protest people before it could turn roit. The folks that dressed all in black with mask on (to hide thier indenty) are know for bringing on trouble and destruction to the areas they protest.

[Nick Pinkston]

Josh,

I heard they'd been denied the permits, but I can see your point of doing it without one. As far as I'm concerned, you shouldn't need a permit to protest. The police were able to find this protest quite easily, and they should've simply routed it to Penn

Medicman,

I don't deny that the anarchists in black wanted to stir-up destruction, but the vast majority in the protest were not those people. Only they will try to cross the barricades, and then the appropriate anti-riot actions can be used.

However, what the police did today was treat the whole group as law breakers, and didn't single out the real troublemakers. These tactics (along with a long list of others) leads to the general public, and especially protesters, seeing the police as assholes. This is acidic to public safety.

When I've protested in DC, police did rolling road closures for the march and it was uneventful - we did had a permit though. However, all the permit does is tip off the police to let them plan. They obviously had a plan to quash for today's protest - that could have gone towards simply routing the protest & keeping it safe. They don't need to treat citizens this way.

[Steve]

Josh, resistg20 didn't apply for a permit, but many others who did were denied, and there are a few lawsuits about it...