Police protesters march from Oakland to South Side, block Parkway East

Hundreds of protesters — decrying police tactics and a judicial system they say is racially biased and broken — took to the streets of Pittsburgh on Friday, marching from Oakland and through the South Side.

“Tell me what democracy looks like!” Joan Mukogosi, 16, of Squirrel Hill, a student at Winchester Thurston School, screamed into a megaphone on Friday afternoon at the intersection of Bigelow Boulevard and Fifth Avenue, adjacent to the University of Pittsburgh campus .

“This is what democracy looks like!” a crowd that grew to at least 300 screamed back from where they stood under colorful umbrellas in pouring rain. A few with bandannas covering their faces so only their eyes could be seen held up signs with profanities written on them in reference to police brutality. A woman held up a sign that read, “My sons lives matter!” A group of girls brandished another, red and glittery, and bearing the word “Ferguson.”

Protesters were confronted at one point by one man, but he was shooed away as a group crowded around him, shouting: “Black lives matter!”

Pittsburgh police monitored the traffic disruptions but did not interact with the marchers. Pittsburgh police spokeswoman Sonya Toler said no one had been arrested.

Protesters first marched down the damp Bigelow Boulevard onto Fifth Avenue, turning back on Atwood Street to stage a brief “die-in,” but for some, one march just wasn't enough. A smaller group of about 100 walked back up Fifth Avenue and down onto the Parkway East, climbing over the barricades to block off the road in both the inbound and outbound lanes. They continued their walk inbound, slowing the traffic for almost 30 minutes. Red and blue police lights flashed as about six cars followed closely behind them, honking their horns when protesters began walking too slowly.

A man in a Guy Fawkes mask and a young woman raised bright red flares as the group marched with their hands in the air crying, “Hands up, don’t shoot!” and “We can’t breathe!” — the last words uttered by choking victim Eric Garner, a black man whom a white police officer killed in New York. Another chant, “We see you!” was shouted as they marched past the 10th Street Bridge and the Allegheny County Jail.

“I’m very proud of Pittsburgh,” said one marcher, Susan Kelley, 44, of Beechview.

One officer on duty on the scene said “we have no choice” when asked why protesters were being allowed to block the parkway. He said the main concern was safety.

“The protesters were peaceful other than blocking traffic,” Ms. Toler said as the march stretched into its third hour. “Our approach is to allow the protesters to express their First Amendment rights.

“We have a group of people here in Pittsburgh who understand that the way to protest is in a peaceful manner. You get your message across more clearly that way.”

The scene was reflected on streets across the country for a second consecutive night since a grand jury in New York cleared the officer in the chokehold death of Mr. Garner. Sign-carrying, chanting demonstrators shut down highways and bridges in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Minneapolis, Oakland, San Francisco, Washington and other cities.

Hundreds of protesters in New York have been arrested.

The march in Pittsburgh started about 5 p.m. It was the third rally at that site since Wednesday’s grand jury ruling.

By 7 p.m., protesters were at the Smithfield Street Bridge, weaving in and out of traffic on the outbound lane. Employees of stores such as Domino’s Pizza came outside to watch the group pass. Every couple of blocks, the group would stop and break into cheers.

Police cruisers on East Carson Street stayed a couple of blocks ahead, directing and blocking traffic at intersections. One officer sitting in his car called the scene “peaceful.” The marchers continued down East Carson Street toward the Birmingham Bridge, ending the march about 9 p.m. on the steps of Hillman Library in Oakland.

Although this was the third rally in two days in Pittsburgh, it was not the first protest calling attention to what protesters perceived as police abuse and legal system indifference. Other protests took place last week in Oakland and in front of the Allegheny County Courthouse and the William S. Moorhead Federal Building, Downtown, after a grand jury in Missouri did not indict a white officer in the shooting death of Michael Brown, 18, who was black.

“I think our relationship with the community members and the very nature of Pittsburgh is that people understand that any other kind of activity is going to dilute their message,” Ms. Toler said. “We will of course give them an opportunity to give their statement, but they can’t bog up the traffic forever; they have to move on.”

Pittsburgh police do not enforce the laws on the parkway. A message left for state police seeking comment was not immediately returned Friday evening.

Another protest is scheduled to take place today at the Ross Park Mall. Another is scheduled for 1 p.m. Wednesday at Carnegie Mellon University.

Madasyn Czebiniak: mczebiniak@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1269. Twitter: @PG_Czebiniak and Dan Majors: dmajors@post-gazette.com and 412-263-1456.