A Second Day Of Smaller Protests Around Pittsburgh Remain Peaceful

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - A much smaller group of protestors took to the streets downtown Sunday afternoon as they demanded justice for George Floyd.

Police in riot gear stood nearby but unlike Saturday's crowd, it remained peaceful.

Sunday was markedly different from Saturday.

Downtown, where many businesses were smashed, vandalized and looted, they are now cleaned up at street level, and boarded up.

The protesters' message Sunday stayed peaceful, focused on the message of justice, inequality, and the use of excessive force, not just for George Floyd in Minnesota, but for those in Pittsburgh.

About 150 protestors moved throughout the downtown area for several hours passionately yelling for justice for George Floyd and chanting, "No peace."

Outside of some disruption to traffic and buses, Sunday's protests were without incident and the message was clear.

"Police the police and serve and protect. All lives matter, but black lives matter too," one of the leaders of the protests said over a megaphone.

The group held signs while traveling up the center of downtown streets from Market Square to Grant Street where they stopped in front of the City-County Building.

They gathered in a circle and spray painted the brick streets with messages of "I can't breathe" what George Floyd could be heard saying when a Minnesota police officer was kneeling on his neck before he died.

Allegheny County Sheriff's Deputies stood in riot gear around the Allegheny County Courthouse while protestors were on the move.

At one point, protestors stood toe-to-toe with officers chanting for them to shake hands.

And with fists in the air, full of emotions that ran deep, they let the police know the protest wasn't only about George Floyd.

"Because just like George Floyd, just like Antwon Rose, they weren't prepared to die that day," protesters said.

And before the city imposed curfew of 8:30, the night ended peacefully and prayerfully with organizers calling for unity, safety, and protection.

For the second night in a row, a city-wide curfew was in effect.

KDKA is working to learn how many businesses had smash and grabs, not just in Market Square.

The KeyBank Building and Union Trust buildings to name a few were also vandalized.

There are several buildings spray-painted on the outside facing the streets with messages of "black lives matter" "I can't breathe" and profanity is painted on these buildings as well.