14 protesters arrested at CMU robotics center
Pittsburgh police on Friday arrested 14 anti-war protesters who blocked the 43rd Street entrance to the National Robotics Engineering Center in Lawrenceville in a mostly peaceful demonstration.
The protesters locked their arms in PVC piping wrapped with duct tape and created a human chain outside the center for about three hours.
The demonstration was part of the Pittsburgh Organizing Group's effort to shut down -- at least for a day -- the center, which is part of Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute and creates robots used by the military in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The group organizes monthly protests, most of which are outside the Army Recruiting Station in Oakland.
"We're absolutely thrilled," said member Marie Skoczylas, 30, of Bloomfield. "The point was to shut it down for the day. We did that. We actually expected more people to be arrested."
CMU officials told staff members at the center to make other work arrangements yesterday, university spokesman Byron Spice said.
"People were free to come in," he said. "Most of them chose to work from home (yesterday). The work of the NREC continues uninterrupted."
Pittsburgh police Cmdr. Scott Schubert of the Special Deployment Division said he could not release the names of those arrested or the charges they face. All 14 protesters -- 13 adults and one juvenile -- were charged with disorderly conduct, obstructing traffic and possession of an instrument of crime, police said.
"They had gotten many, many warnings," Schubert said.
Protesters began assembling at about daybreak outside the robotic center's entrances at 40th and 43rd streets.
About a half-dozen demonstrators with signs gathered outside the 40th Street entrance and fastened themselves to the gate. One woman sat suspended in a tripod contraption about 15 feet above the ground.
Dozens more sat or lay on 43rd Street, including the 14 locked in PVC piping.
Many chanted, "Ain't no power like the power of the people 'cause the power of the people don't stop," and "The people united will never be defeated."
A couple of others played trumpets and drums, performing songs like Twisted Sister's "We're Not Gonna Take It" and the Steelers rally song "Here We Go."
Four firefighters armed with a hose stood at the ready, while police officers armed in SWAT gear talked with protesters.
By 9:30 a.m., city emergency medical technicians were cutting through the piping, and police began making the arrests.
The final protesters left the 40th Street entrance at about lunchtime.
