The G-20 is over and Pittsburgh can be proud. The anticipated destruction of the city did not occur. The inability of the police to maintain order did not occur. In fact, the exact opposite occurred. Where London and Seattle failed, Pittsburgh excelled. With the exception of a few young misguided and one left over 1960’s career “activist” the people of the area showed who we are.
Oh sure, some protested for the various issues that are important to them but overwhelmingly they did it peacefully. You might have missed the issues of Aids, Free Tibet, Stop the War, end poverty, even Stand Against Police Brutality. We didn’t see people chained to plastic pipes, we didn’t see downtown Pittsburgh turned into a wasteland with broken windows and burned overturned cars. We didn’t see the world media capturing police unmercifully beating demonstrators. Any of the traditional “protester” destruction was seen in Lawrenceville and Oakland, far away from the event. The police did an outstanding job of keeping the peace against all odds.
Police reported 190 people were arrested as a result of the demonstrations during the G-20. The people arrested were from 20 different states and the District of Columbia, not including about 90 from Pennsylvania. There are 19 people who have not had their addresses identified so that might change. I would imagine that most people believe the police did a good job.
Although the police certainly had the front line in maintaining order there were many others who were responsible for the success of the event. The fire department staged their manpower and equipment for quick response around the city. The public works department sanitized the streets, so to speak, of protester weapons. Those are the newspaper boxes, litter containers and other things we are used to seeing on the streets that are easily picked up and thrown by rioters, excuse me, protesters.
I think the answer to the success is not only the preparation of the various agencies but also Pittsburgh showing the stuff we are made of. One of the secrets of southwestern Pennsylvania isthat we really are different than other metropolitan areas. Regardless of what we think the news looks like locally we don’t have a lot of crime. The majority of people in this area live within 9 miles of where they grew up. That means we know each other, we know each others’ parents, children and grand children. That makes us different than other major metropolitan areas around the United States. It might seem trite to say: “We are family!”
