2. I lived in Pittsburgh for five years and that video is NOT of downtown Pittsburgh. It could be one of the neighborhoods to the east of downtown, however.

Bickle @ #4

all police and whomever else is involved with that duty should be made very well aware that there will be fast and severe punishment, including jail time for this kind of behavior

What behavior are you referring to exactly? The techniques seemed to work quite well at keeping things from escalating to the point of injury.
It seems clear that more permits should have been issued, though it is not totally clear to me if this was purely an issue of govt delay or late filing by protest groups. Here is hoping that the next large event to draw protests is better managed to allow for a more free atmosphere, but the 0 major injuries, and minimal property damage both seem to speak well for the city.

It’s all standard tactical stuff. And that piercing alarm, that’s a regular sound and can be countermeasured with the proper electronics.

A bunch of amped up right wingers pissed off the anarchists didn’t misbehave as much as they would have liked, and they had all these new toys they didn’t get to use, so they found a reason.

While certainly there needs to be police on hand to control these idiots who are there simply for the chance to act like a jerk, all police and whomever else is involved with that duty should be made very well aware that there will be fast and severe punishment, including jail time for this kind of behavior. There also needs to be agreed upon rules and guidelines set by the G20 (yeah right, like it’s going ot happen) for conduct by host cities. Why is it that every single event like this and political convention this happens? Because law enforcement goes into it looking to bust heads from the get-go

Was this done preemptively or in response to something the protesters did?

Clarification: by “this,” I’m referring to clearing out that part of the city.