University of Pittsburgh Student Ethan Cohen Snatched and Arrested During Interview

Members of Rochester Indymedia were interviewing Ethan Cohen (spelling might be off)--a student at the University of Pittsburgh--on Forbes Avenue in Pittsburgh during the G20 when police demanded that the three of us go inside and get off the streets. Mr. Cohen had earlier been shoved by police back into the foyer of his apparent building when he questioned an officer as to why he couldn't smoke a cigarette on the street in front of his residence. He was agitated by this treatment and allowed the two IMC reporters to enter the residence. At some point around midnight on September 24, Mr. Cohen shouted at police from within the front door as he finished his cigarette and ran up the stairs to his room. Shortly after Mr. Cohen made himself heard, three riot cops--two with dogs--burst into the apartment complex and chased him down. One Rochester Indymedia person who was at the door was gripped by an officer and flung out of the foyer and onto the sidewalk. The other reporter stepped back in the narrow hallway with his hands visible. The first three officers were followed by five more riot cops for backup. Mr. Cohen was caught by officers in his own home after expressing his disgust at the police brutality from earlier in the night, arrested, and marched outside of the building by police where he was frisked, put into a van, and taken to jail. The legal number was called regarding Mr. Cohen and contact information left with legal assistants.