Lengthy protest at Pittsburgh Mayor Peduto’s house morphs into ‘unlawful assembly,’ pepper spray, 1 arrest

Megan Guza And Nate Smallwood | Thursday, August 20, 2020 12:40 a.m.

Nate Smallwood | Tribune-Review

Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto gets up to leave after speaking with demonstrators outside his residence in Point Breeze late Wednesday.

An hours-long protest Wednesday night outside the Point Breeze home of Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto ended in chemical spray, chaos and one arrest after a confrontation between protesters and police in riot gear near Mellon Park.

A group of about 100 protesters had originally marched from the park to Peduto’s Hastings Street home around 8 p.m. to confront the mayor about perceived inaction and lies, particularly in regard to tense moments with police during protests over the past months.

Short clip of police pushing the group further into the park and using pepper spray @TribLIVE pic.twitter.com/8BzucoIlLu

— Nate Smallwood (@nsmallwoodphoto) August 20, 2020

The mayor, who was not home when protesters descended on his street the night prior, was waiting for demonstrators on his front stoop when they arrived.

Peduto invited protesters onto his stoop about 8:30 p.m.

Many questions and demands of the mayor revolved around the June 1 protest in East Liberty where officers used tear gas and projectiles to disperse protesters, as well as the weekend arrest of a protester by plainclothes officers in an unmarked van.

The tense dialogue eventually broke down, with protesters returning to chants such as, “Hey hey, ho ho, Bill Peduto has got to go,” among others.

A 10 p.m. curfew was put in place because of some protesters spending all of Tuesday night into Wednesday morning outside the mayor’s home, playing music and using sirens to make themselves known, leading some neighbors on Hastings Street to complain.

After an unlawful assembly was declared at the Mayor's home in Point Breeze Pittsburgh police funnel the demonstrating group into Mellon Park @TribLIVE pic.twitter.com/WPxq3XfnQp

— Nate Smallwood (@nsmallwoodphoto) August 20, 2020

Police gave the first dispersal order about 10:15 p.m. Wednesday.

“I am Officer Spinneweber of the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police. I hereby declare this to be an unlawful assembly. I order all those assembled at (the mayor’s address) to disperse. You must leave the immediate vicinity.”

The officer noted that anyone who disobeyed the order could be arrested or subject physical force.

“The following routes of dispersal are available to you: Down Hastings back toward Reynolds Street, back toward Mellon Park. You have two minutes to disperse.”

At least one person arrested after police push the demonstrators into Mellon Park on Aug. 19, 2020. @TribLIVE pic.twitter.com/nr4woBXtzy

— Nate Smallwood (@nsmallwoodphoto) August 20, 2020

Protesters moved down Hastings and toward Mellon Park. Once at the park, police told protesters they could not be on the sidewalk or in the street and moved them farther into the park.

Police deployed canisters of a chemical that appeared to be pepper spray, with at least one officer spraying it from about a foot away into the face of some protesters.

Some protesters collapsed, and other shouted that they couldn’t breathe.

One person was taken into custody, according Pittsburgh police. It was not immediately clear the charges for which the person was arrested.