Thousands march through Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGH (AP) — A vociferous but peaceful group of several thousand people marched for miles through the downtown area Friday, united by opposition to the Group of 20 summit but expressing a diversity of mostly liberal causes as an army of stone-faced riot police watched their every move.

Dozens of black-clad anarchists were conspicuous among the demonstrators, but there was no sign of the disturbances that had resulted in arrests and property damage a day earlier.

Public safety officials said 83 people were arrested at protests and other events and about $50,000 in property damage was done during the two-day summit, which ended Friday. They said a man who smashed windows at a Citizens Bank branch in the city’s Oakland section was responsible for $20,000 in damage.

The main message of Friday’s so-called Peoples’ March to the G-20 was a demand for solutions to the planet’s economic and environmental challenges different from those the world’s richest countries are pursuing. But there also was a strong contingent of anti-war protesters and those interested in such diverse issues as African debt relief, rejection of corporate subsidies and more humane child-labor laws.

“We want money for jobs, not war, money to clean up the environment,” said Pete Shell, a protest organizer.

President Barack Obama said the protests had been relatively peaceful, adding that previous world summits drew far more protesters than came to Pittsburgh. He described many as opposing capitalism and free markets in general, and said he supported their freedom to express their views but disagreed with them.

There also was a festive spirit in Friday’s crowd — colorful flags, bicyclists, a group of hula hoopers, a large parade puppet in the shape of a dove, a small brass band and a correspondent from Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” who drew a mini-crowd of his own.

The march had been issued a city permit and organizers pledged to keep it nonviolent, a goal they stressed to participants, even though some were determined to test police restraint.

A group of black-clad anarchists, their faces covered, faced a line of police officers and sang, “We all live in a fascist bully state” to the tune of the Beatles’ “Yellow Submarine.” Anarchists also came nose-to-nose with officers, to little effect.

Leaders of 19 countries and the European Union were meeting downtown, in sight of the Andy Warhol Bridge. When the protesters reached the bridge, they stopped and shouted toward the summit. Some gestured obscenely; one woman on a bullhorn yelled, “Power to the people, not the G-20.”

At the park where the three-hour procession ended, volunteers dished beans, rice and salsa on tortillas out of pots and coolers while speakers talked of convicting the G-20 leaders of crimes against humanity.

Joshua Nichols, 24, of Telluride, Colo., drove 24 hours to participate. He described himself as a migrant who shovels snow in winter, cleans houses, works on an organic farm and teaches preschool in the summer.

“I am here because I think the G-20 is in part an organization among others that leads to the subjugation of people all over the world,” he said. “We need to stand up and say that we’re going to put an end to this or it’s going to get ugly.”