Pittsburgh police seek information about confrontations between protesters, public from weekend

Pittsburgh police are seeking more information about confrontations between protesters and the public Saturday as they investigate videos that have surfaced on social media.

But a protester said Monday the videos don’t properly capture tensions on both sides of the demonstrations that began Downtown.

Spokeswoman Cara Cruz said authorities are working to identify potential suspects after the videos showed demonstrators hitting a person carrying a bicycle and yelling at restaurant patrons. No one was arrested Saturday, she said.

“Police are encouraging anyone who was impacted or assaulted during Saturday’s demonstrations to contact them and file a report,” Cruz said.

One of the protesters, Nique Craft, said one scuffle began after bicyclists rode through the crowd using “racist rhetoric” and got into a fight with demonstrators.

That’s when a man dining outside Bakersfield restaurant on Penn Avenue started calling them names — “disgusting and an embarrassment,” Craft said.

“When we were on our way back to the crowd, there were people at Bakersfield that were yelling at us for harassing and bullying these people on the bike, even though they had just literally stood and watched what happened,” Craft said. “I was not OK with those comments being made.”

Craft said a woman seated with the man offered to buy Craft a beer and talk about the situation.

“I said, ‘I don’t have time to wait for the beer you’re going to order me,’ ” Craft said Monday. “I walked in, I picked up her beer, I drank it, I sat the glass down. What other people did after that I did not know until today.”

What was supposed to be a silly act to break the tension turned into Craft receiving death threats. Videos of parts of the situation were posted on Facebook as participants in a protest organized by Black, Young and Educated moved through the Cultural District.

The videos showed the group of protesters converge on Penn Avenue outside The Standard Market & Pint House and Courtyard by Marriott. A man carrying a bicycle in the street and wearing a helmet is seen exchanging words with a demonstrator who was holding a bullhorn. The protester appears to push the bicyclist in the face with the bullhorn and the bicyclist slaps the bullhorn.

In the video, another person on the street hits the bicyclist on the head with what appears to be a skateboard. The bicyclist continues to walk on Penn Avenue with a group of protesters following behind to get them away before heading back to the demonstration, Craft said.

In a second video from the same location, the protester with the bullhorn says: “You are an embarrassment.” Another demonstrator is seen talking to two people at their table when Craft comes in wearing a “Nazi Lives Don’t Matter” shirt and drinks the beer after the exchange with the man and woman sitting there.

“I thought it was a rapport between me and this lady,” Craft said.

Chanting and drumbeats from a large group marching on the street follow as protesters leave the dining area, the video shows. A woman who posted the videos on Facebook did not respond to a request for comment.

Another video which appears to be taken from inside a McDonald’s restaurant shows some of the same demonstrators chanting, clapping and dancing to music while apparently waiting for their orders. Dozens more people are standing outside at the intersection of Stanwix Street and Forbes Avenue.

Craft said protesters purchased food after the restaurant manager expressed dismay that the demonstration would hurt business. The situation devolved and the video shows a couple of the protesters direct heated words and profanity at workers behind the counter. A male employee gets into a scuffle with the demonstrator who was holding the bullhorn and the situation turns tense with both sides yelling at each other.

Several months of protesting racial injustice has taken its toll on the mental health of Pittsburghers who have participated, Craft said. The positive scenes don’t get video­taped and posted on social media.

“It’s really easy to paint protesters one way based on what you know about them and what they look like,” Craft said.

“Everybody keeps getting these scenes of us doing things like this, but nobody gets the scenes” of ways protesters have helped others, such as collecting money for someone in need or helping the homeless, Craft said.

Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Lehigh Valley, condemned the demonstrators’ actions in a tweet Monday. He said intimidating others and damaging businesses isn’t peaceful protesting.

“These are crimes,” he said. “Until elected officials support the prosecution of these criminals, they’ll continue.”

Demonstrators made their way to Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto’s Point Breeze home later Saturday before marching into East Liberty. About six police officers stood on the mayor’s front porch while demonstrators were outside.

It was unclear if Peduto was home. Tensions have increased between protesters and the mayor after a controversial arrest last month during a protest in Oakland. That prompted Peduto to shake up the police department to prevent Black Lives Matter demonstrations from escalating into clashes between police and the protesters.

Protests, many of which have been peaceful, have been ongoing throughout the city and country for the past several months demanding police reform after a black man was killed by a white officer in Minneapolis. The officer was charged with homicide after kneeling on the man’s neck.