The Group of 20, which consists of the finance ministers and central bank directors of 19 of the economically most powerful nations and the European Union, is meeting in Pittsburgh next week. President Obama is hosting the meeting.

Demonstrators from around the world will be present with varying goals including greater support for Third World Nations and opposition to the war. The Pittsburgh City Council passed a temporary ordinance prohibiting the possession of tools and other items, with the intent to to block access to streets, sidewalks, and public buildings or to defeat crowd control orders.

Apparently the ordinance was not needed before the meeting and it terminates on the first of the month after the meeting. It can be assumed that the only purpose of the ordinance to criminalize the exercise of First Amendment rights during the meeting.

Councilman William Peduto was the sole vote against the ordinance. He pointed out that laws prohibiting protesters from blocking access to streets and sidewalks and requiring them to obey dispersal orders already exist and that the ordinance allows officers “to make a judgment call not on an act but on an assumption of an act,” exposing the city to federal lawsuits.

The City has only granted two permits for demonstrations and both of them are located some distance from the summit. The ACLU has filed suit asking the court to order the city to grant more permits and to allow demonstration closer to the site of the summit.