City of Pittsburgh on high alert after word of ‘Downtown takeover’ spread online
The city of Pittsburgh is on alert after students posted plans for a teenage takeover of Downtown tonight.
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These posts were planning to “take over” after school on Friday.
Pittsburgh Public Schools alerted parents to this in a robocall this week, saying it was not a school-sanctioned event and there would be no invigilators.
Municipal officials said they were prepared for any situation.
“It’s always better to be over-prepared than not at all. We understand there’s something going on on social media. We’ll see what happens. If people are coming downtown tonight, we want them to come down and enjoy themselves, and we’ll do our jobs as usual,” Mayor Corey O’Connor said.
Pittsburgh Police were also on hand.
“We’re there to keep things safe for everyone. If our youth want to come Downtown and have a great time and follow the rules, we’re going to be there to keep them safe. But if you come Downtown and break the law and make people feel unsafe, we’ll respond accordingly,” said Police Chief Jason Lando.
Some downtown businesses told their employees to either work from home or go home early today.
Last Sunday, dozens of young people came downtown and started fighting with each other, even spraying each other with pepper spray.
7 children were detained.
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