Thirsty Thursday.

I won't lie - I attended the riot last night just to watch some extreme police brutality. Needless to say, I was pretty disappointed when I got to Schenley Plaza at 9:30 PM and it was tame as ever. I'd been in an office from 1-9, and where I expected something to the extent of the Super Bowl riots, all I got was an inordinate amount of police and people standing around, arms crossed, silent and waiting for something to happen. Yeah, there were some dirt punks strolling around with bandannas and goggles on their faces - just in case a can of tear gas came tearing through the dullness - but overall, everyone was there for the same reason I was: to see shit hit the fan.

That's why patience is a virtue.

Elmer Eric Schattschneider, a political scientist and a Pitt alumnus, had this theory about conflict. The amount of people who are brought into a conflict determine the results of it, which is to say the bigger the audience, the bigger the conflict, the bigger the winner. This is mostly applied to politics, namely interest group politics, but I think it's applicable for rioting also. The more people who are watching, the more violent the outcome. When I got to Schenley Plaza, it was just a whole lot of people standing around and waiting for something to happen. They were the audience, not the participants. Anticipation was building. More and more people were coming to Schenley Plaza because everyone was gathering there for a reason, right? Right? But why was nothing happening? Why are there so many people and so many cops?

I left with my friend from to go grab some beers, and that's when the SWAT cars came ripping through Forbes Avenue (side note: when the shit did Pittsburgh get armored SWAT tanks? Where are my tax dollars going?!). Apparently, a large group of protesters had made their way down to Schenley Plaza, and whether or not they did anything, I can't say, but whatever happened was enough to light the powder keg. A friend meeting me at Schenley texted me. "WE GOT TEAR GASSED." A large truck announced that the City of Pittsburgh declared this an unlawful assembly; anyone in the area was subject to arrests and they would use physical force. Two shots arced in the sky, and when they landed, white gas spread like fog. People were running, and other people were yelling at them to walk.

A stream of heavily armored police rushed the group of us that was just standing there on Forbes Avenue by the Carnegie Museums, dumbfounded, reacting slowly when they kept shouting at us to move back. They grabbed one old and dirty man wearing round glasses, and they threw him to the ground. He was flanked and swallowed by a pack of armored men. People started screaming "LEGAL! LEGAL!" and pointing at the group of police. Two police officers got up from the pack and rushed us. One had a billy club, the other had a rifle. A protester-medic was beaten with the billy club, and the other cop pointed the rifle at me, shouting "MOVE. MOVE BACK."

Three more arcs of smoke trailed towards the Cathedral of Learning. A helicopter was flying circles above Oakland, and its spotlight kept hitting the Cathedral walls. I wanted to get onto the lawn to see what was going on, but there were cops everywhere. Every street was blocked. People were standing in flocks on the corners, craning their heads and bouncing on their tip-toes to see the mayhem. The row of cops kept moving back; they were always screaming at us, never just telling us, asking us. We were just kids. We just wanted to see the shitshow.

I've satisfied my quota for police brutality, but that's all that Thursday night satisfied. Why didn't the protesters do anything? After traveling from all over the country - shit, all over the world - all you're going to do is hula-hoop and bang on makeshift drums? I wanted someone to throw something at the wall of police officers - a shoe, a can of soda, a bag of shit, anything! I wanted people to be shouting about capitalist bourgeois pigs! I wanted picket signs and chanting! I wanted public indecency! I wanted anger and frustration and passion! And yes, I saw anger, frustration and passion, but it came from the cops who were paid to be there and not the protesters who came of their own will. Because there was none of that, there was devastatingly little reason for there to have been as much violence as there was last night, and that makes my satisfaction feel hollow.

There are a lot of people shit-talking the police for use of excessive force, and I don't think it's undeserved. It certainly was gratuitous violence. However, to pin the blame completely on the cops is misguided. Violence was demanded. Everyone who gathered at Schenley and Forbes and the Cathedral was there to witness and possibly be a part of some unadultered chaos. We were the Schattschneidian audience that fed the conflict, and it hit a critical mass at which someone had to deliver the goods to the people. If no one had came to watch the gathering of protesters, i.e. if no one had wanted to see violence, there would have been less brutality. Possibly even none. Again, I'm satisfied with what happened to the extent that it fulfilled my need to see shitshows and garner cool stories (a cop fucking pointed a rifle at me! COME ON. THAT'S SO COOL), but I really just wish it was the protesters who started it. I really wish there was more of a reason than just "because."

In other news, I watched this video a billion times last night. Unbelievable.