by Juliette Rihl
A controversial ‘pop-out’ arrest of a protest marshal by city police on Saturday, Aug. 15, led protesters to the doorstep of Mayor Bill Peduto’s Point Breeze home several times this week.
“Hey hey, ho ho, Mayor Peduto has got to go,” was among the chants calling for his resignation during demonstrations that lasted for hours into the night and early morning and ended in police using force to disperse protesters from the neighborhood on Wednesday night.
On Friday, the mayor issued a statement announcing changes in the command structure and prohibiting the use of ‘jump-out’ arrests during protests, but it remains to be seen if his latest actions will be enough to quell protesters’ demands.
Prior to Peduto’s announcement, activist Lorenzo Rulli said protesters were calling for the mayor’s resignation “because he’s a white man who doesn’t take accountability, responsibility, nor does he make true statements to the media or the people that he wants to keep him in office… He’s not the people’s mayor; he’s the police’s mayor.”
Peduto has joined a growing list of mayors and other public officials facing protests outside their homes and mounting pressure to resign.
A group of law enforcement officers stands in a line on Fifth Avenue in Shadyside on Wed., Aug. 19, 2020. (Christian Snyder for PublicSource)
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Peduto and his police: What’s in the Pittsburgh mayor’s power when it comes to law enforcement?
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