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Monday, March 31, 2003

By Lori Shontz, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Swissvale and Edgewood police used pepper spray yesterday afternoon to break up an anti-war protest march as they ordered demonstrators from the middle of Braddock Avenue to the sidewalks. Three people were arrested, including at least one person who was on the sidewalk.

Gwendolyn Schmidt is arrested yesterday after about 200 anti-war protesters marched without a permit from Pittsburgh into Swissvale. Police used pepper spray against the marchers and arrested three of them. (Tony Tye, Post-Gazette)

The march, which started with a picnic and rally in Frick Park, went smoothly along Braddock until it crossed the city line into Swissvale. City police had been letting marchers walk unhindered in the street, but Swissvale officers told them to get onto the sidewalk.

Lt. Greg Geppert of the Swissvale Police Department said some protesters refused to leave the street for the sidewalk and others threw batteries and rocks at the police or used profanity.

He said Gwendolyn Schmidt, 29, of Mount Washington, the woman who was arrested, "wouldn't leave the street," and the two men -- William E. McColloch, 19, of Forest Hills, and Mark Bradley Yokim, 24, of Oakland--were "inciting the others."

All three were charged with disorderly conduct, obstructing roadways, and failure to disperse. Yokim was also charged with obstructing the administration of law.

Protesters said they were expecting police to take a harder line after the March 20 protest, which started peacefully and ended with 122 arrests, but they were surprised by what they called the indiscriminate use of pepper spray.

Sarah Bauer, one of the participants, said the officers who made the arrests moved in quickly.

"A cop car came out of nowhere from behind me and pulled up in front of the march," she said. "It seemed like they drove up, jumped out of the car and tackled and sprayed them. ... If something was going on, you'd think it would be the cops who were standing there watching that would have done something about it." It wasn't clear whether the watching officers she referred to were city police or other Swissvale and Edgewood officers monitoring the march.

	A police officer pepper sprays protesters yesterday as officers make an arrest at an anti-war rally in Swissvale. (Tony Tye, Post-Gazette)

Mark McColloch, the father of William McColloch, said he was standing about eight paces behind his son when it happened. He said William was pointing at an Edgewood officer, and that the officer -- who "was already agitated, probably from something that I didn't see happen," -- sprayed him in the face with the pepper spray.

William McColloch was standing on the sidewalk.

Yesterday's protest started in Frick Park at the corner of Forbes and Braddock avenues, where a picnic for peace and a peace rally had received city permits. About 250 people attended. They listened to speeches from a variety of people, including two poets, a law professor, a clergyman and leaders of three local activist movements.

Organizers did not receive a permit for the march, scheduled for 3 p.m., and a leader of the Pittsburgh Organizing Group, Alex Bradley, said at the end of his speech that everyone was invited to participate, although he understood that some people would not want to risk arrest.

"We could have a rally one day and a unpermitted march another day," he said. "But events are stronger when they are held together."

All but about 50 of the people who attended the rally joined the march, which Bradley announced would last for only about 15 minutes. And although it is illegal to march in the streets without a permit, City of Pittsburgh police allowed the protesters to march down Braddock Avenue toward Swissvale.

Cmdr. Paul Donaldson, the duty commander, said that was because all but one or two police officers were stationed on Forbes Avenue. "We thought the march would stay in the city," he said.

Instead, the protesters marched out of the city -- and away from the majority of the police.

It wasn't until the protesters left the city limits that they were challenged. Swissvale police, assisted by Edgewood officers, stood in the middle of Braddock Avenue and forced marchers onto the sidewalk on the Swissvale side of the street.

"The police at first told us it was OK to walk in the street," said Eric Turnbaugh, one of the participants. "Then as soon as we went into the Swissvale area, they told us we weren't allowed on anymore. I think that was part of the problem -- some told us we could, some told us we couldn't."