Protests set for September Pittsburgh G20 summit

Activists said they will kick off protests in the western Pennsylvania city on September 20 ahead of the two-day G20 summit September 24-25.

"We will be bringing significant numbers of unemployed, underemployed, poor and homeless people and their supporters to Pittsburgh," Larry Holmes of the Bail Out the People Movement, which is organizing the protests along with other groups, told a news conference.

"We are calling on all who are supporters of labour rights, workers' rights, supporters of the poor and unemployed and human rights to declare that week global week of solidarity with the unemployed," he said. "Within that context we are demanding a global jobs program."

Holmes did not elaborate on what a global jobs program would involve.

The Bail Out the People Movement was created in response to the billions of dollars spent by governments bailing out banks amid the global financial crisis. The group argues the money should be spent helping "ordinary working and poor people."

The protest organizers said they were aiming to hold a peaceful protest but would "do what it takes to exercise our rights" and would support groups "who make different choices."

Some protests at previous G20 meetings have turned violent when activists clashed with police.

Finance ministers and central bank governors from the G20 nations attend summits of the group, which was created in 1999.

The G20 members are: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Britain, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United States and the European Union.

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Will Dunham)