A protester holds a sign reading "I can't breathe" as scores of other demonstrators march in Downtown Pittsburgh on Saturday afternoon. (Photo by Nick Childers/PublicSource)
Stories like this take time, talent, and tech to produce.
We’re proud to provide high-quality local journalism without paywalls — everyone deserves access to information that affects them. But each resource it takes to create these stories comes with a cost. Protect our ability to keep producing journalism you value — please donate today.
As protests over the killing of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, at the hands of a Minnesota white police officer rocked cities all across the United States, thousands of protesters gathered in downtown Pittsburgh Saturday afternoon.
What started as a peaceful march and protest escalated into violent tensions and forced Pittsburgh Public Safety to issue a curfew order effective at 8:30 p.m Saturday until 6 a.m. Sunday. Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich said the curfew will be in place Sunday as well. Police cars were set ablaze and Hissrich said several businesses were damaged.
During the press conference Hissrich suggested that he believed some of violent protesters were not from the city.
Pittsburgh police chief Scott Schubert said that his department is going to use available tools at their disposal to review the footage and identify those who have incited violence, injured people, including reporters, and “hijacked” the message of the peaceful protest.
“43 adults and a juvenile were arrested during riots and looting last night,” according to the official public safety Twitter account. On Sunday, the public safety department said that of “the 44 arrests so far, 16 live in the City of Pittsburgh. Remaining come from suburban Allegheny County municipalities and other locations including New Castle and New Kensington.”
On a day when Allegheny County reported 27 new COVID-19 cases, health officials warned about the dangers of gathering in large crowds and urged the public to continue following social distancing guidelines.
Below are some of the scenes from Saturday’s protests:
(Photo by Nick Childers/PublicSource)
(Photo by Nick Childers/PublicSource)
(Photo by Jay Manning/PublicSource)
(Photo by Nick Childers/PublicSource)
(Photo by Nick Childers/PublicSource)
(Photo by Nick Childers/PublicSource)
(Photo by Jay Manning/PublicSource)
(Photo by Nick Childers/PublicSource)
(Photo by Nick Childers/PublicSource)
(Photo by Nick Childers/PublicSource)
(Photo by Jay Manning/PublicSource)
(Photo by Nick Childers/PublicSource)
(Photo by Nick Childers/PublicSource)
(Photo by Nick Childers/PublicSource)
(Photo by Jay Manning/PublicSource)
(Photo by Nick Childers/PublicSource)
(Photo by Nick Childers/PublicSource)
(Photo by Jay Manning/PublicSource)
(Photo by Nick Childers/PublicSource)
(Photo by Jay Manning/PublicSource)
(Photo by Nick Childers/PublicSource)
(Photo by Nick Childers/PublicSource)
(Photo by Nick Childers/PublicSource)
We don't have paywalls — but your support helps us bridge crucial information gaps.
Readers tell us they can't find the information they get from our reporting anywhere else, and we're glad to provide this important service for our community. We work hard to produce accurate, timely, impactful journalism without paywalls that keeps our region informed and moving forward.
However, only about .1% of the people who read our stories contribute to our work financially. Our newsroom depends on the generosity of readers like yourself to make our high-quality local journalism possible, and the costs of the resources it takes to produce it have been rising, so each member means a lot to us.
Your donation to our nonprofit newsroom helps ensure everyone in Allegheny County can stay up-to-date about decisions and events that affect them. Please make your gift of support now.
Mila Sanina served from 2016-2021 as the executive director of PublicSource, a nonprofit, non-partisan newsroom delivering public-service journalism in the Pittsburgh region at publicsource.org. Under...
More by Mila Sanina
