Later that day...
I ran to my observation tower and gazed out upon the landscape. The air was thick with tension and heavy with the aromas of the unshowered masses. "Help Keep Lawrenceville Clean!" I shouted. They only strummed banjos and banged beat up drums. Maybe they couldn't hear me. I decided to get a little closer.
At street level
Cops hopping out of a school bus into the Get Go parking lot. The lines are already long enough to get a sandwich on a good day, then these guys show up. Christ.
Remember those guys having a nice, relaxing lunch in the parking lot just a few hours ago? Their event was only catered for 2. They were not happy. RSVPs, people. Remember the RSVPs.
And our neighborhood florist? Not really bothered too much.
Staties from Ohio. Ohiya, we'd say.
Two of 'em were having a tender moment. Primatologists have often observed that grooming behaviors are a foundation of social interaction among troops of baboons. Are we so different?
At the Circle K. I don't know why they'd hang out there. The coffee is terrible.
I have no fucking idea what's been drawn on these things. I see a spider and some lettering that looks like it came from the 1950s. I'm probably supposed to regret something I've purchased. Well done, guys.
Paaaaaar-taaaaaay! Note the people-with-cameras ratio to people actually saying something. It's like 50 to 1. Yet I overheard the Reuters guy say his was the best job on the planet.
Seriously? Change a few props around and this is a bukkake video.
The guy in the white suit is Billy Talen, the Reverend Billy from the Church of Life After Shopping. I wonder if he willed that sparkling white suit on to his body.
I really, truly do not understand what use any close-up portrait of a cop could be. Are you looking to suss out their steely resolve? Will you peer inside their souls and find that they have hearts of gold but were forced into a life in Law Enforcement to appease their father, who was a cop just like his father before him? This is bad photography. You can't see the event. You can't see the context of the individual as they exist in the environment. Some dude with a helmet on is boring and useless. Unless you spot that same dude later on beating the bejeesus out of somebody. Then maybe that one guy up close is significant.
Case in point: This dude. He was yelling at the top of his lungs at the crowd, begging them to start marching. "This is pointless if we don't go anywhere," he shouted. His portrait could be significant. The cops said to one another, "keep an eye on that guy." And I took their advice. Except he never actually did anything significant as far as I saw. So these shots were pointless.
Boo-hoo, he said to himself.
But wait! There's more! He'd later be arrested near Ritters when he attempted to intervene in an aggressive arrest. He'd also appear as one of the few front-line protesters without a mask on. He was one of the few people so convicted that he'd do it with his real face. Dude is commendable.
These guys stood at the entrance to the park on 40th St. But that's a bad shot too - you can't see what they're guarding.
I see this kid on the right everywhere. He's an odd one. He was just watching the fun with his pal.
"Oh, hey! There's another side to the park! Let's go there and try to get out!"
Good idea: wear black, and cover yourself completely to remain anonymous.
Bad idea: wear black, and cover yourself completely to remain anonymous, but do it with tight plastic jackets so you sweat to death on a muggy, miserable day.
I have to wonder what sales were like for Billy's today. Does Billy hope for another protest tomorrow? Will he have enough Nutty Buddies?
Yay! Ice Cream!
Finally some movement. Instead of the cops blocking the exit it was the media. So people just jumped over the wall.
And we're off.
And remember our deserted hilltop from this morning? Nah, I didn't predict they'd come this way and take a shot in the AM just so I could have a comparison image now. That would be too... brilliant.
It took a while for other people to get up to the top. Some were obsessively staying on top of the march, like something would happen this far from downtown. I am amazed when I see overweight photographers. I lost at least 3 pounds today running around.
More people coming...The dude in the vest is a resident of Lawrenceville who is sort of like a one-man block watch movement. I have shots of him running around like this when the Steelers won the Superbowl this past year.
More... and...
Oh, snap! They didn't go left on Penn, into the clutches of the police. They went right across it. I thought this was somewhat clever. I didn't get why the cops hadn't blocked this area. It's almost like the cops know how this stuff goes, and they can exhaust protesters by letting them run for freedom, making everything easier when it eventually comes to confrontation.
Most folks followed the line directly. But that leads to a bunch of narrow sidestreets in the DMZ between Bloomfield and Lawrenceville. I went around.
There they are!
The Pittsburgh Fuzz is EOE, baby.
Seriously? Who forgot the GPS? Downtown is down here.
There ya go.
Can you spot the anarchist diva?
A cop car drove up to the protester line and said hello. Why? This made no sense. One dude hopped out. Bait?
Ohhhhhh. It was to distract the march from this dude.
But they kept coming. They're there, behind the old dudes with the cameras.
There they are!
What is this, a fucking fundraiser? How can you even support anarchy? She was way out in front of the group. I raced her to the bottom because it looked like that where they were throwing the kegger.
Ah. Crap. No beer left. Just bad music. Like C&C Music Factory once said, gonna make you SWAT. They blasted crazy train noises and whistles and stuff. That big grey thing is a weaponized directional amplifier. I know this because I saw it on the Discovery channel.
Useless cop portrait!
I wish I could show how this cop was talking with his hands while one of them held a tear gas cannister. Or maybe that's pepper spray. I can't see from here.
These brave men stand before us, defending all the is right and good with the world.
Yeah, ok, that one's for the tear gas.
Some young kids being dorks.
In case there was a breakout of Scientology, this dude was ready to fight it.
The protesters decided not to engage the 5-0 at the Iron City factory. They headed back to Penn after the SWAT truck blasted something about everybody being arrested if they kept the party going. Or maybe they realized the jeapordy the factory would be in and that the collateral damage would be too much to bear, financially or emotionally.
Yeah, this was slightly unnecessary. I get that you're trying to block the path but Help Keep Lawrenceville Clean!
Perhaps I speak to soon? This dude has the T-Shirt on already. Yeeeah, product placement.
Across Penn, down the hill to Butler St. This had me a bit concerned. I told one of my clients that I'd be sure to stop his window from getting $ma$hed.
So. 36 and Butler. The police dude down here is holding a shotgun with rubber bullets. He never fired any. A cop on top of the SWAT truck is throwing tear gas cannisters like a girl, and they're landing right in front of the truck, then rolling back down the hill because, well, it's a slope and the world operates under the terms of gravity. Also rolling down the hill are dumpsters. This is also because of gravity. The protester in the yellow was the go-to guy for cannister removal. He'd kick the cans back down the hill if they got close. After a few more cannisters were tossed - with better aim - the crowd turned back. They'd not be this strong again. From here on out things became dispersed and people went everywhere.
You can see me in this YouTube video. I'm in the red, with the knee-high socks. You'll see that tear gas cannister go off right in front of the truck, as a result of the girly arm of the aforementioned cop.
A SWAT truck closed in on the area.
People went up the street, ignoring the ONE WAY sign, and around. They came back down on 35th. There were no cops there.
So they ran. All the way down Butler.
"What does it feel like to be free," he asked his friend in yellow. "Is this it?"
And they ran some more.
To cover the scent of their escape, they dumped garbage in the street.
And then slowed down again as they approached Doughboy Square, the intersection of Penn Ave. and Butler St.
They kept coming down Butler, for a while. You can see the SWAT truck coming down Penn. They eventually started blasting noise down the street, which interrupted a good conversation I was having with a kid from the South Side - who walked here. The protesters saw what was about to happen. They'd be boxed in. At the other end were the riot cops in force.
Those 'uns.
After a few minutes, people began to disperse and escape their Restaurant Supply Warehouses.
Medics hung out at the Quik Stop.
This guy drove through shouting "Go Stillers!"
It was pretty clear that they'd set up shop on 31st St. Nobody was getting through on Penn, Butler or even Smallman.
Then the cops brought the line closer to the action. It was clear that they'd had enough. They brought in the best for this job, of course.
And then took a breather.
And waited for some action.
And looked for some more.
But that was about it. This church was reminding me of how bad hell is. I'd completely forgotten.
At the bottom of the hill was that dumpster that went careening down the slope due to gravity earlier.
And that concludes this broadcast day.