PITTSBURGH — Protest groups targeting the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh in September are holding meetings and workshops ahead of the event on topics from using handcuffs for mass demonstrations to working with the media.

Police are expecting some 3,000 protesters when world leaders convene on Sept. 24 to 25. While security preparation is under way, protest groups are planning ahead, too.

A group called the Pittsburgh G-20 Resistance Project's Web site has posters and flyers calling for disruptions — one showing a masked figure wielding a slingshot, another says "A struggle for a better world will be had in the streets."

Also, the Thomas Merton Center, a Pittsburgh activist group citing peace and social justice as objectives, applied for a permit to hold a march on Sept. 25.