Riots break out at Pittsburg State. Students trapped, gassed and beaten

[stephendare]

http://www.youtube.com/v/5NSsj4a6v5U

[reednavy]

Why is that even being held in Pittsburgh?

[buckethead]

http://www.youtube.com/v/dK2BRiGX6JQ

Do you see nothing out of place here?

Those guys aren't military.

[buckethead]

Three different uniforms, two aged, and the driver is wearing brown, scuffed boots while one soldier is sporting what seem to be Doc Martins.

It looks staged.

[Ocklawaha]

What were they protesting? Damn! Sure looks strangely familiar to the old Hippie.

OCKLAWAHA

[buckethead]

What were they protesting? Damn! Sure looks strangely familiar to the old Hippie.

OCKLAWAHA

They were protesting the G20 summit or capitalism or some such thing.

I happen to share a measure of disdain for those at the summit, but this looks like a oscar nomination attempt.

If the "abductors" were in black riot gear, or even wearing the men in black suits, it might be more believable.

[buckethead]

well whatever happened with the fatigues, there is no reason to have deployed tear gas or beating the couple

Looks like you're correct on the uni's. You mention "beatings" which I did not see, I never saw a baton raised, but they did seem to force them to the ground.

That poor guy was trying to get the really smart girl out of the way of the stormtroopers, but she was determined to go all  "Tienamen Square" and stand her ground. Was she even a protester?

As afr as the tear gas, most of that crowd appeared to be students. I can see nothing they did to deserve being assaulted. That is not to say that nothing happened.

[buckethead]

I fear the stormtroopers would disagree, as well as the bankers at the summit.

So would a judge. Our opinion holds little sway.

You are right about bloodshed had they tried these tactics at the "tax/heathcare/racist lunatics who dare to criticize "Obama" protest. There would have been hell to pay from the righties. These folks need to get a clue about G8, G20 and such. It is our freedom, wealth and future at stake.

[buckethead]

They use public assembly permitting laws, and will always have a leg to stand on.

One would think that a progressive such as Obama would have this public opression stopped.

Or are these protesters actually causing destruction and mayhem?

Likely the truth lies somwhere in the middle, and depends largely on your perspective.

[DavidWilliams]

In most cases, the truth lies in the middle.

[heights unknown]

Wow.  New World Order.  Beast Kingdom.  Mark of the Beast.  One World Government.  It's all almost here.  Wonder what the new world will really be like.  We'll all sport microchips and won't be able to eat, buy or sell without them.  No privacy, they'll know what you're thinking, where you're going, and certainly who you are without ever meeting you.  Think I'm crazy?  Wait a year or two.

Heights Unknown

[NotNow]

I didn't see anyone get "beaten" in the first video.  Looks like a bunch of kids wanted to "watch" the riot got stuck on a staircase and got a dose of the gas used on the street.  Of course the Police are below them on the street.  And of course the Police are clearing the exposed stairways and upper balconies.   Ever been hit on the head with a beer bottle or a rock?  When the protesters start destroying private property, then the Pittsburg Police apparently felt like they needed to clear them out.

The second video is standard riot line.  The couple is warned repeatedly, until finally an apprehension team moves through to arrest them, using what looks like standard tactics.  Couple beaten?  Hardly.

The third video...I have no idea.  It looks staged to me as well.  The military has no arrest authority.  And the tactics used look like no tactics at all, just acting.  No cuffs?  No weapons?  No protective gear?  These videos are a joke.

[buckethead]

These people did nothing worse, but you think its ok to treat them this way?

Civil liberties groups: Police overreacted at G-20




By MICHAEL RUBINKAM


PITTSBURGH (AP) - Police used all the nonlethal tools at their disposal to thwart protesters at the Group of 20 summit this week, firing bean bags, hurling canisters of smoke and pepper spray, using flash-bang grenades and batons and deploying a high-tech sound-blasting device meant to push back crowds.

It was all a bit much for civil liberties groups and protesters.

They decried what they called a heavy-handed and unwarranted police response, saying riot officers focused on largely peaceful, if unsanctioned, demonstrations when they should have been paying more attention to small groups of vandals that smashed windows of city businesses.

"It's not just intimidation, it's disruption and in some cases outright prevention of peaceful protesters being able to get their message out," said Witold "Vic" Walczak, legal director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania. "In a week when we need freedom of speech more than ever, free speech died in Pittsburgh this week."

He added that "the deployment of police seems to be more geared toward suppressing lawful demonstrations than actually preventing crime."

Hundreds of riot police broke up an impromptu gathering Thursday night in Schenley Plaza near the University of Pittsburgh campus, where large numbers of university students mingled with smaller groups of protesters, including anarchists.

The plaza is a quarter-mile from the building where world leaders were assembled, but the dignitaries were gone by the time police declared the gathering illegal and fired canisters of pepper spray and smoke.

Legal observers at the gathering saw police surrounding, chasing and arresting students who weren't involved in the protest, said Paige Cram, spokeswoman for the National Lawyers Guild, a liberal legal-aid group. She called the show of force "an ominous spectacle."

Franklyn Smith, 58, a mental health case manager who was protesting at Schenley Plaza, said police tackled him.

"He threw me to the ground. He kept smashing my face into the ground. Then about two or three other cops came over. They jumped on me," said Smith, who was released from the city jail around 7 a.m. Friday and went straight to the ER for treatment of a badly bruised face.

A video posted Friday on YouTube shows a group of Pitt students briefly trapped on the outdoor stairwell of a campus building, evidently exposed to gaseous pepper spray and unable to move because riot police were blocking the bottom and top of the stairs. The students had been standing on a second-floor balcony, observing the clash between police and protesters on the street below.

Around the same time, a few blocks away, windows were smashed at some 10 businesses. Police made 42 arrests near the university, but it wasn't clear if they caught any of the vandals.

Experts say that anarchists successfully deployed a tactic in Pittsburgh that they have often used at other protests, leading a large group of people toward police, then slipping out of the crowd to commit mayhem elsewhere.

University of Pittsburgh spokesman John Fedele said police had a difficult task Thursday night because a small group of people bent on causing destruction sought cover in the larger crowd of Pitt students.

There are two sides to the story. I agree that the students were mistreated. I can see the position the police were put in as well. Somehow the anarchists or whatever they are seem to escape culpability.

[NotNow]

"notnow.  Is it the cop training?  Don't  you see how this is not the way a democracy works?  You are still mad that gun toting, kenya hating people got accurately counted in washington."

StephenDare!, this little tirade reveals far more about your biased mind set than that of others.  None of these ad hominem arguments that you so quickly refer to makes any kind of case in the dispute.  The young people in the first video were not beaten at all which shows your thread title (and this happens quite often) to be incorrect and just inflammatory.  "Democracy" is not accomplished by destroying property.  To call the various anarchy groups that practice protesting these types of government functions "democracy" is laughable on its face.  Even they admit that they do not favor "democracy".  What was videotaped were some inexperienced young people who apparently thought that they could observe a riot like it was a sporting event.  They were not the targets of any police action and simply stood above the area where gas was used in a riot situation.  The instigators and rioters were the same age and dressed the same as these young people, thus it takes some time for Officers to ensure that they are not letting violent people through their lines.  (I am attempting to explain this reasonably, and not throw insults or ad hominem attacks.)  As for the protest in Washington DC on 9/12 that you refer to, I am not "mad" in any way, but your tone indicates some frustration on your part.  (gun toting, Kenya hating?  Really?)  My "cop training" tells me that you should not let events outside of you control affect you so badly.

These people did nothing worse, but you think its ok to treat them this way?

They were not mistreated, and the video does not show any mistreatment, does it?  I didn't see any arrest made on that stairway, did you?  I didn't see anyone beaten on that stairway, did you?  As for the DC protest (which has absolutely nothing to do with this), no one was arested there either because there was no one getting hurt and no property damage. ( Hmmm, whether it was 60k or 800k that IS pretty remarkable, isn't it?)

And seriously?  Its not ok to gas kids where they live because its standard operating procedure.  The safety of the police is not more important than the safety of the people in the community.

These young people didn't live in that building as the young man says in the video itself.  They certainly don't live on a "stairwell".  These people were not "gassed" and only ingested gas because of their choice to hover above a riot.  The safety of the people who live in this community is what the Police were ensuring as the majority of the students in the area were not participating in this activity.  And the safety of the Officers must also be maintained, don't you agree?  If this "riot" occured on your street, and property was being damaged, the procedures here would be the same:
1. Police arrive and establish a perimeter to contain the problem.
2.  Police make several announcements for residents to stay in their homes and for others to clear the streets.
3.  Police ensure that those wanting to leave the area have an organized exit and do not congregate elsewhere in the area.
4.  Police move the perimeter to push resistant rioters out of the area.  Active resister's are arrested and transported out of the area.

Its the same.  If a gang of thugs decided to secure an area in this manner. they would be prosecuted with a separate crime. 

It is not the same, have you run into a "group of thugs" lately?  They do not use less lethal force or arrest.  They will just beat the crap out of you or kill you.  Please don't make such silly comparisons, it is a waste of my time  to read such drivel.  One might think that using such a deceptive title and fallacious arguments that you were not being honest in your participation here.

[NotNow]

Funny.  I thought that I made reasonable arguments and I attempted to explain what I believed to be the tactics and procedures that the Officers were using.  It is obvious that YOU have a problem with the "Cops".  I expected more thoughtfulness. 

I do agree that someone is "spinning" here, but it is not me.