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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY SEPTEMBER 28, 2009
NEWS
5A
NATIONAL
Summit causes stir in city
Group of 20 meet in Pittsburgh, bringing additional security along
BY VICKI SMITH
Associated Press
PITTSBURGH — Merchants and motorists reclaimed their city Saturday as a vast police presence dissolved, barricades vanished and traffic started flowing after a gathering of world leaders that had turned the downtown area into a well-protected fortress.
Just hours after the Group of 20 summit at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center ended Friday and the world leaders departed with their entourages, the army of officers from around the country began to disband. By early evening, public works crews had begun clearing and cleaning streets that had been shut down for two days.
"I don't know what they actually accomplished, but I'm glad it's over," said Jeffrey Bauer, a U.S. Postal Service worker who has delivered a downtown route for three years.
"Everywhere we went, we saw National Guard and state police on the corners, officers walking down the street two by two," Bauer said. "It reminded me of a movie, like 'The Day the Earth Stood Still' or some kind of science fiction movie where the town's empty. It seemed to me there were more police than citizens."
During the two-day summit, mail carriers drove with color-coded sheets in their windows to get through security checkpoints. They also traveled in pairs to prevent vandalism of their vehicles by anarchists who were among the thousands of G-20 protesters in town.
Many downtown businesses closed voluntarily, some of the smaller ones boarding their windows with plwwood.
Bill Martinko, owner of Galardi's 30-Minute Cleaners, now wonders if he should have bothered.
"I thought it would have been really bad, but nothing happened downtown at all," he said. "I wasted all that money boarding up."
Martinko estimates closing on his two busiest days, Thursday and Friday, cost him at least $1,500. But he has had some extra business in recent weeks from Secret Service agents, who preferred his lower rates to those of the hotels, and he expects to make up his losses soon, with the weather turning cooler and people breaking out their autumn attire.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Ryan estimates it lost thousands of dollars of income. Ryan was relieved no downtown businesses were damaged by protesters and marveled at the police presence.
Cardamone's Hair Salon started getting cancellations Wednesday afternoon when security began to intensify, and receptionist Andrea
"I've never seen anything like that, even with everything else that goes on down here — Steelers parades, Penguins parades," she said. "We get hundreds of thousand of people in crowds and there are no problems."
Tensions flared up at times, but police quickly contained the unrest and minimized property damage.
Thousands of peaceful protesters marched through the city legally Friday with what appeared to be an equal number of stone-faced riot police monitoring their every move from sidewalks and intersections. Later, however, hundreds of protesters clashed with police in the city's Oakland section, near the University of Pittsburgh.
Police said Saturday that 110 people were arrested Friday night after the summit, mostly for disorderly conduct and failure to disperse, bringing the arrest total to 193.
It was the second night of conflict: An unpermitted afternoon march in the city's Lawrenceville section was halted Thursday almost as soon as it began, and police
A maintenance worker sweeps debris from the sidewalk Saturday in downtown Pittsburgh. The G-20 convention brought a vast amount of security and protestors to the area this week.
spent hours trying to disperse the protesters with earspitting sirens, smoke and pepper spray. Riot officers pushed the crowd back several
blocks until it eventually broke up, but the protesters reformed their ranks later that night in Oakland, where dozens were arrested.
GERMANY
Chancellor Merkel wins majority in election
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, top candidate of the Christian Democratic Union Party, CDU, waves after the German general elections in Berlin Sunday. Germany will be trying to come out of a recession under new leadership.
Associated Press
BERLIN — German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday won the center-right majority that eluded her four years ago — nudging Europe's biggest economic power to the right as it claws its way out of a deep recession.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Voters sent the nation's main left-wing party, the Social Democrats of Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, into opposition after 11 years as part of the government. It was the party's worst parliamentary election result since World War II.
BY GEIR MOULSON AND
"There is no talking around it; this is a bitter defeat," a subdued Steinmeier said, vowing to lead a strong opposition.
The conservative Merkel managed to end her four-year "grand coalition" with the Social Democrats thanks to a very strong showing by her new coalition partner, the probusiness Free Democrats. Her own Christian Democrats produced an underwhelming showing.
"Tonight we can really celebrate," said a beaming Merkel, greeted by chants of "Angie! Angie!" from supporters. "(But) there are many problems in our country to be solved."
Projections by the nation's public broadcasters, based on partial vote
counts, put support for Merkel's Christian Democrats at up to 33.8 percent of the vote and for the Social Democrats at about 23 percent. The Free Democrats captured nearly 15 percent, the Left Party had 12 percent or more and the Greens above 10 percent.
Both ARD and ZDF television channels said that would produce a stable center-right majority in parliament. It was a major shift from the 2005 election, in which Merkel's conservatives just squeaked by the Social Democrats.
The White House said President Barack Obama called Merkel to congratulate her and "looks forward to continued close cooperation" with her. French President Nicolas Sarkozy also congratulated her.
Merkel's second four-year term will be markedly different from her first, in which she presided over a middle-of-the-road government that was fractious but enjoyed a huge parliamentary majority.
Heather Conley, director of the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies' Europe Program, said the new government "is going to place much more burden on Chancellor Merkel to forge an agenda and implement it"
Merkel's popularity has been fueled by her consensual approach.
She will now lead a narrower coalition with a stronger opposition and a self-confident new partner, but suggested that she will stick to her own style.
"My understanding was, and my understanding is, that I want to be the chancellor of all Germans," she told supporters, adding that protecting and creating jobs "will be my highest aim."
Guido Westerwelle, the leader of the Free Democrats, is expected to be the next foreign minister. His party is returning to government after an 11-year absence.
"We are pleased with this exceptional result but we know that above all else, this means responsibility," he said.
Merkel vowed "swift and decisive" coalition talks, likely to be
shorter than the two months of haggling that produced the "grand coalition" in 2005.
Merkel and Westerwelle will now have to figure out how to deliver on pledges of tax relief — promises that Steinmeier had said were unrealistic as the government is running up huge debts to tackle the country's economic crisis.
DOLE LEADERSHIP PRIZE PRESENTED TO DONNA SHALALA (former HHS Secretary)
MONDAY September
28 2009