Pittsburgh police deployed pepper spray late Tuesday afternoon against roughly two dozen protesters outside the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit at Carnegie Mellon University as the gathering was breaking up.
Clad in riot gear, about 20 officers warned the protesters to clear the intersection of Forbes Avenue and South Craig Street in the city’s Oakland section.
The protesters refused, locking arms and yelling.
Police used pepper spray on them twice just before 5:30 p.m. and told the protesters if they did not leave the area, they would be physically removed.
As police gave orders, attendees of the summit, which featured President Donald Trump, members of his cabinet and numerous tech, energy and financial leaders, gathered on the opposite side of Forbes from the protesters.
Within a half hour, police had cleared the intersection and left the area.
Staying behind was a group of protesters standing on the sidewalk and shouting at cars.
There were no arrests.
Police had reopened Forbes to traffic by 6 p.m.