Pittsburgh prepares for potential protests Downtown on Saturday

Pittsburgh is gearing up for a protest Downtown on Saturday in wake of unrest erupting across the country over the death this week of a black Minneapolis resident in custody of white police officers.

Public Safety spokesman Chris Togneri declined to offer details, but said the department is monitoring the situation locally as well as events happening in the country. Social media chatter indicates the protest will take place Saturday afternoon.

Togneri said police would respect the rights of people to protest and would work with organizers to assure safety for all.

“We are aware there are going to be some planned protests in the Pittsburgh region,” he said. “Pittsburgh has seen a number of protests in recent years, and the city has established a clear track record of protecting the First Amendment rights of protesters while assuring that all people — protesters, visitors, city residents and motorists who may be affected by road closures — are kept safe. We will continue to base our actions on that guiding principle.”

Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald said county officials are working with law enforcement partners to monitor the situation.

“We want it to be as safe as it can,” Fitzgerald said. “We hope that if people do come to protest, we want them to be as safe as they can. We hope that people who do come to protest wear their masks, they keep social distance, they do other things to be able to have their voices heard without putting others at risk — their fellow protesters most likely.”

Most recently about 200 protesters — some wearing masks, others not — lined Downtown Pittsburgh’s Grant Street on April 20 to call on Gov. Tom Wolf to lift restrictions on Pennsylvania businesses during the coronavirus pandemic.

Mayor Bill Peduto described the May 25 killing of George Floyd in Minnesota as “heartbreaking.”

He said he was up until 3 a.m. Friday texting former Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges and the mayors of Columbus, Ohio, and Louisville, Ky., where violence has erupted in recent days. He said he also contacted public safety officials and Chief of Staff Dan Gilman to make sure the city was prepared for any activity in Pittsburgh.

“It’s an issue that we have to address,” he said. “We have to be able to speak openly about the targeting of black males. Something like passing a bad bill, writing a bad check should never be a death sentence for anybody. We train our officers not to do those type of tactics.”

The Minneapolis police suspected Floyd of passing a counterfeit bill at a grocery store.