Monday, September 21, 2009

G20, Pittsburgh marches for jobs

More Pittsburgh G-20 Protests News Here 09 22 09


Photo by Nick Deel

Protest of the G-20 began in earnest yesterday when Bail Out The People, a community organizing group, held a "march for jobs" beginning at the Monumental Baptist Church in the Hill District and ending at Freedom Corner next to Mellon Arena.

The march was the beginning of a week long protest aimed at the G-20 by Bail Out The People and sponsored by the Monumental Baptist Church. The group is also maintaining a tent city next to the church populated by jobless citizens and volunteers.

Several hundred people participated in the march, chanting and calling for a public jobs program. Although police presence was evident the crowd was peaceful and tensions were at ease.

Once the march arrived at Freedom corner State Sentaor Jim Ferlo addressed the crowd. He denounced President Obama for saying in a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article published Sunday that "having protests about abstractions [such] as global capitalism or something, generally is not really going to make a difference."

The G-20 will be meeting at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center on September 24-25.

For more images of the march click on the slideshow below.

For more info:www.bailoutpeople.org, www.pittsburghg20.org






Pittsburgh labor and community coalitions held two marches Sunday, Sept. 20 demanding jobs and immediate relief for the unemployed aimed at the G20 meetings starting on Thursday, Sept. 24.

The marches are part of a week of demonstrations, cultural events, teach-ins and workshops protesting global economic policies that benefit transnational corporations and capital at the expense of labor, workers, their families and the environment.



For G20 blogging, go to Labor UpFront:http://laborupfront.blogspot.com/