Peaceful crowd shuts down Bakery Square during 8th day of Pittsburgh protests - TribLIVE

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Protesters took to the streets of Pittsburgh for the eighth day in a row Saturday, blocking streets in Larimer, East Liberty and Shadyside for much of the afternoon.

Hundreds of people started to gather at the Bakery Square shopping center in Pittsburgh’s Larimer neighborhood around 3 p.m., blocking Penn Avenue between East Liberty Boulevard and Fifth Avenue.

Many held signs: “Black Lives Matter,” “End police brutality,” “No justice, no peace,” “White silence is compliance.”

They burst out in upbeat chants throughout the demonstration, which lasted about four hours: “What do we want, justice! When do we want it, now!” and “Back up, back up, we want freedom, freedom” rang out.

Those phrases make 18-year-old Treasure Palmer of Penn Hills feel invigorated and empowered.

“It shows black culture to me,” said Palmer, who is a founding member of the group Black, Young and Educated, or B.Y.E., and helped to organize the demonstration. “We love music, we love to be lively, and just be joyous. It’s kind of hard when things are going on, but we still find the joy in things, and come together. We do these chants and get each other pumped up.

“We have a purpose here, and we’re trying to figure something out and fix it.”

The crowd keeps growing here at Bakery Square for the 8th straight day of protests against police brutality in Pittsburgh. pic.twitter.com/eqXHUkfynf

— Jamie Martines (@Jamie_Martines) June 6, 2020

Palmer co-founded the group with classmates last year, planning networking events and art shows to support young people of color living in the Pittsburgh area.

B.Y.E. worked to organize Saturday’s demonstration after members participated in protests throughout the city earlier this week in response to the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25. Floyd, who was 46, was killed by a Minneapolis police officer who pinned Floyd to the ground and held his knee on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes.

The officer, Derek Chauvin, was fired and charged with second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. Three other officers who were involved also were fired and charged with aiding and abetting Floyd’s death.

That was 8 min and 45 seconds of silence, about as long as a Minneapolis police officer held his knee on George Floyd’s neck, a speaker just said. Now, chants of “George Floyd” and “Breonna Taylor.” https://t.co/3sZALEEJgV

— Jamie Martines (@Jamie_Martines) June 6, 2020

Since then, daily protests against police brutality and use of force have taken place in cities across the country.

The week of protests represent more than just that one incident, said one protest organizer who goes by Giuseppe, also an 18-year-old and member of B.Y.E.

“None of this is all about George Floyd,” she said. “This is about our people, this is about our future, this is about our kids. It’s about everybody that doesn’t have a voice. We’re trying to speak up for them because it’s not OK to have so much hate surround people.”

She pointed out that June is Pride Month, and urged the hundreds gathered at Bakery Square to also support LGBTQ people of color — especially black transgender people, who face particularly high rates of violence and whose stories are often overlooked, she said.

“It’s the same logic,” Giuseppe said. “People that hate someone for a race is the same logic for hating someone for a religion or hating someone for their sexuality.”

Organizers led the crowd in songs and chants, speakers shared poems and led white allies — people who came out to support, but who are not directly affected by issues like police brutality or racism in their day-to-day lives — in a “privilege check.” They asked everyone to consider situations like whether they have ever been followed around in a store, whether they’ve ever been the victim of violence because of their race or whether they’ve ever had a conversation about racism with family members.

Attendees were asked to wear red to match the red stripe on the Pan-African flag, which symbolizes the blood shed by African people in their fight for freedom, said Nick Anglin, an 18-year-old from Penn Hills and a member of B.Y.E. who helped to plan the demonstration.

“Black people have been silenced,” said Anglin, also a founding member of B.Y.E. “No one’s been listening to us. It’s either conform or get out. Now we’re just tired of it, and now’s the time for us to speak up.”

One of the goals of Saturday’s peaceful demonstration in Pittsburgh was to educate people about Pennsylvania’s use of force laws — referred to throughout the protest as “Section 508,” the section of the Pennsylvania crimes code that explains how law enforcement may use force, organizers said.

Those laws need to be reformed to restore trust between citizens and law enforcement, and especially between the black community and law enforcement, Palmer said.

“We feel like we’re not being protected by our officers,” Palmer said.

Anglin said he’s hopeful that recent protests will bring lasting change. He plans to continue planning demonstrations in the city to continue the conversations started Saturday.

“Police brutality constantly occurs, and they do minor reformations, but there’s never any drastic change,” he said. “It occurs, then there’s a pause, and it happens again. This moment as a whole is pretty inspirational.”

Pittsburgh police maintained a presence throughout the event but stayed about a block away in each direction from where protesters were gathered. Some members of the Pittsburgh police civil affairs team stood at the edges of the crowd.

Protesters spent the final hour of the demonstration marching from Larimer to Shadyside, blocking the intersection at Center and Negley avenues.

That’s where police on Monday used tear gas to disperse protesters as a peaceful demonstration came to a close.

The crowd moved fast through East Liberty, now marching down Center Ave towards Shadyside. There is a police presence about a block ahead of the front of the protesters. I can see a few motorcycles and police cars. We have paused at Whole Foods. pic.twitter.com/lrNpdJVsPH

— Jamie Martines (@Jamie_Martines) June 6, 2020

The group again formed a circle as a different group of speakers took over to lead chants and several minutes of silence.

One speaker said the march also honors Breonna Taylor, a black woman who was killed by Louisville police in March when they executed a no-knock search warrant at her home.

Roads were reopened as the group dispersed peacefully about 7 p.m. No arrests or incidents were reported, according to a statement from Pittsburgh Public Safety.

After a powerful moment of silence that lasted several minutes, protesters told by leaders to disperse. Everyone got up and is now walking away from Center and Negley. Many people left pretty fast, others chatting, hugging, introducing themselves to each other. pic.twitter.com/XjYhPV3oYE

— Jamie Martines (@Jamie_Martines) June 6, 2020

Jamie Martines is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Jamie at 724-850-2867, jmartines@triblive.com or via Twitter .

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