So Brandon and I headed from Washington, DC to Pittsburgh last night to live blog the G20 protests today. We were armed with video iPhones, flip cams, digital SLRs, and an HD HVX camera. Since Web 3.0 is still pretty experimental for everyone, we didn't know how much success we'd have. So we got to Arsenal Park at 9am and began our coverage using Twitter, Flickr, and Facebook. Before we knew it, magazines in Europe were emailing us asking permission to use our pics and our blog posts. http://tinyurl.com/...
All the media was there. Early. And they were clearly anxious for shots of signage and shouting hipsters. By noon, the entire park had filled up with around 1000 people (according to local estimates).
The march began. The crowd walked to the end of the park. Only to be met by a GIGANTIC swarm of riot police. The police said they couldn't leave the park and take to the streets. So what did they do? They just ran the other way and jumped a fence and got into the street and started marching. We followed them... and so did the police. Always 2-3 blocks ahead, the police kept forming perimeters and had super-sonic sound speakers that blasted painful sound towards the demonstrators. My ears felt like they would bleed.
Chaotic crowds dispersed down alley ways. I witnessed large dumpsters being drug into the streets to prevent the police force from following. Live Tweet reports from 5 blocks away said tear gas was being deployed. Reports of rubber bullets and bloody noses. I ran to the front of the main crowd again. Taking pictures from the street, I was shoved by a riot police officer and told to "get the hell off the street and keep walking". With smoke and gas in the air, I walked back to a cafe with wireless and uploaded all my pics and videos from the day.
You can see those pictures here: G20 PROTESTS PICS AND VIDEO
You can also see my TwitPics and Twitter reports @MiddleOfMayhem or @bloch_party
Looking at the statistics already we have over 6000 total views on our reports for the day.
This is something I think everyone should take advantage of. Amazing the quickness of getting the word out.