I took a walk across town to the United Steelworkers building, which turned out to be pretty much deserted. I walked down the main streets where the businesses were largely closed, the sidewalks were … deserted. Except for lots of cops. The office buildings are closed, some have concrete barriers around them. The big PPG building — the one with spires on top — has fencing with barbed wire all around it.
Even the big Starbucks was closed.
There are a few places open, a pizza shop, with the chef standing outside looking at all the bored cops.
Bored cops, that’s a story. They all have brand new equipment. The riot helmets are obviously just out of the box, not a scuffmark on any of them. New, ironed uniforms. I passed a group of 30 or so in full riot gear, being drilled by a sergeant. I guess this gives everyone an opportunity to try out all the new stuff, new equipment, uniforms, helmets, etc.
So far there are no large demonstrations, with a few exceptions. Earlier there was a group of maybe 30 or so from Burma marching, followed by a slightly smaller group from Ethiopia. On my walk I passed one large group of maybe 100 Tibetans, with Tibet flags, marching to the end of the street outside the fence – as close as they are allowed to get to the convention center itself, and this is not close at all. Even then they are being kept a block back from the fence. (If I was a right wing blogger I would have said 100,000 Tibetans. That’s a “Tea party” joke for bloggers.)
As for financial issues I passed literally “one guy with a sign,” which said, “Stop the global bank thieves of America.” Oh, also a group of four or five guys with “Weed” signs, for legalizing marijuana. They were pretty loud, though.
Another thing I noticed is all the buses. Because the city is closed to traffic they have brought in buses for people. But there aren’t any people hardly. I think I saw three or four people getting on buses, in a ling of maybe eight buses…
Things pick up later. According to the schedule, at 6pm:
President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama greet arriving Heads of Delegation at Phipps Conservatory.
Secretary Geithner greets arriving Finance Ministers at Phipps Conservatory.
I expect things to change after that.
Update – CNN is reporting that a bunch of anarchists were tear gassed. I don’t know where, but not around here. They’re saying this is just the first wave of the expected protests over the next 24 to 48 hours.
