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PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania: Police fired pepper spray on Thursday to disperse masked anarchist protesters attempting to march on the venue of the Pittsburgh G20 summit.
Riot police intervened after a 1,000-strong crowd, some of them black-clad hardliners wearing goggles and brandishing anti-capitalist banners, set off on a three-kilometre trek towards the conference venue.
As the group left the city park where they had gathered in defiance of a ban on non-authorised rallies, police broadcast a pre-recorded announcement in English and Spanish declaring their protest an "unlawful assembly."
"If you do not disperse you may be subject to arrest or other police action," the message warned. Some heeded the warning, but others pushed on.
Shortly afterwards, riot officers blocked their path and fired tear gas grenades and a cat and mouse game developed. The bulk of the march melted away, leaving a few pockets of hardliners to taunt police lines.
"Pittsburgh police can confirm that one male has been arrested. The charge is civil disobedience," said Lieutenant Colonel Don Accamando, a National Guard spokesman.
"They pushed us into a side street in a residential area and then shot tear gas at us. They shot like three cannisters," demonstrator Ross McCoy told AFP. Police later said the substance used was pepper spray.
One of those who left the area was protester Erin Kelly, who told AFP: "This is against our constitutional rights, but we didn't come here to get arrested."
Other demonstrators were disappointed that the march had been hijacked by a small element of inexperienced activists. "It's very badly organised by a bunch of young kids," said Pittsburgh resident Fred Marshall.
"It was inevitable that we were going to be dispersed. Their ideas are good, but their voices weren't heard. This isn't Europe, we don't do things like they do there," he said, citing the G20 riots that rocked London six months ago.
Earlier a group of 80 students waved red and black anarchist flags and black banners had set off from the city campus of the University of Pittsburgh to join hundreds more protesters in Arsenal Park.
"I'm an anarchist-communist who's here to show the G20 that they are not the only people whose lives they're affecting," said Martin Droll, a 20-year-old office worker from Philadelphia.
A few blocks from the planned starting point of the march, 200 Tibetan activists waving Tibetan and American flags staged a separate peaceful demonstration.
"We want to take the opportunity of Chinese President Hu Jintao arriving here today for the G20 to ask world leaders to press him to improve human rights in Tibet," Nga Wang Tasha, president of the Original Tibetan Youth Congress of New York and New Jersey, told AFP.
"We also want to ask President Barack Obama, who made change a slogan of his campaign, to press for a change in the situation in Tibet."
Hardline demonstrators had vowed to march on the summit venue at the David Lawrence Convention Centre to vent their anger at the two-day meeting of the so-called Group of 20 leading economies opening Thursday evening.
Some downtown schools and businesses closed in expectation of a showdown.
The city put in place a massive security operation, with police drafted in from across the country, and National Guard troops in camouflage uniforms manning a ring of concrete road blocks around the meeting site.
"We're here to protect everyone, including the civil protesters, those who want to use violence spoil it for everyone," said Tim Huschak, a bicycle-riding police officer brought into Pittsburgh from the nearby town of Clairton.
"We're planning for the worst and hoping for the best. If you go on YouTube you can see what they did in London and Seattle at events like this."
Pittsburgh has brought in 4,000 extra law enforcement officers - some federal, some on loan from cities around the country. - AFP/de
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