Left Wing Violence in Pittsburgh; G20

[amicus]

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26122714-12335,00.html

Riot police intervened after a 1000-strong crowd, some of them black-clad hardliners wearing goggles and brandishing anti-capitalist banners,...

G8 and G20 protestors are nothing new, but in light of 75,000 plus in a peaceful march on Washington, D.C., protesting the Obama administration had no arrests.

Faced with a recommendation to increase troop strength in Afghanistan by 40,000, will the anti war protestors be in the streets again?

Coverage on this event was minimal, but I wonder if it presages an increase of civil disobedience from the anti war, anti capitalist activist groups around the nation?

Amicus

edited to add: the Australian source was a surprise to me and there were several video's available but hardly any textual reportage. That in itself I found curious...

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

What I found interesting was the verbage. The Pittsburg local television news used words like "Anarchists" to discribe the demenstrators. Now it appears the "Anarchists" had a permit to hold a march but someone at the top of the food chain decided to change the rules. So out came the tear gas and bean bag shots. Made Pittsburg look rather like the DNC in Chicago, 1968.

 

[Safe_Bet]

...edited to add: the Australian source was a surprise to me and there were several video's available but hardly any FACTUAL reportage. That in itself I found curious...

Fixed you post for you Ami. I'm sure that's what you MEANT to say!

 

[Liar]

G8 and G20 protestors are nothing new, but in light of 75,000 plus in a peaceful march on Washington, D.C., protesting the Obama administration had no arrests.

I dunno. Apples and oranges really.

The summit protesters are highly driven ideological fringe muppets (oh, and not just leftists, there's a sizeable portion of libretarian extremists too) with a global focus, who stalk the different events and engage in pro rioting, right on the edge of legality (and sometimes crossing it). They've deen doing iot for decades, and it has niether decreased or escalated all that much over the years.

The rare bona fide racist aside, most Tea Party folks are regular, middle class, overall law abiding folks on the culturally conservative side of things without much of an ideology or political knowledge. What they do have is a lot of general worries, mainly due to the state of the economy and a changed political landscape, worries have been caught up in a wave of partisan mass hysteria that makes those people feel like they belong, that they too can matter and that someone do pay attention to them. The bulk of the big anti war protests of recent years were the same way. Politically nondescript people who likely couldn't discuss the specifics of what they were against, but who felt good about themselves for taking a stand.

So no, I don't think it's an indication of much at all really.

 

[Huckleman2000]

Yes, the "Anarchists" are kind of a fixture at these things. Remember at the WTO meetings in Seattle in the late 90s? Similar heavy-handed response by the police there, too.

Did you see the new "sound cannons" the Pgh. PD used? Mounted on big trucks painted flat black, manned by guys in outfits that look like the bad guys in a bad sci-fi movie. I'm sure someone was just itching to use their new toys.

 

[amicus]

I think Jenny saw it as I did; similar to the '68 Chicago riot. Just announced that 83 arrests were made, rather substantial compared to the 0 arrests in the DC Rally, even after the participants had been labelled as, "Astro-turf", malcontents, ring wing franatics and a dozen more pejoratives.

I personally think violence will erupt big time when the far left agenda of Obama is defeated in Congress, the war goes on, 40,000 more troops, socialized medicine voted down. The brainwashed and indoctrinated college students will once again take to the streets...

We shall see, eh?

Amicus