<div dir="ltr">
<div id="gmail-toolbar" class="gmail-toolbar-container">
</div><div class="gmail-container" dir="ltr">
<div class="gmail-header gmail-reader-header gmail-reader-show-element">
<font size="1"><a href="https://www.portlandmercury.com/blogtown/2020/07/18/28652209/federal-and-local-police-team-up-in-aggressive-response-to-night-50-of-portland-protests">https://www.portlandmercury.com/blogtown/2020/07/18/28652209/federal-and-local-police-team-up-in-aggressive-response-to-night-50-of-portland-protests</a>
</font><h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Federal and Local Police Team Up in Aggressive Response to Day 50 of Portland Protests</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">Wm. Steven Humphrey - July 18, 2020<br></div>
</div>
<hr>
<div class="gmail-content">
<div class="gmail-moz-reader-content gmail-reader-show-element"><div id="gmail-readability-page-1" class="gmail-page"><div>
<div><p><img src="https://media1.fdncms.com/portmerc/imager/u/large/28652582/1595097369-screen_shot_2020-07-18_at_11.30.49_am.png" alt="Portland Police work in concert with federal officers to tear gas and disperse protesters, Friday July 17." title="Portland Police work in concert with federal officers to tear gas and disperse protesters, Friday July 17." style="margin-right: 0px;" width="461" height="295"></p><p><span>Portland Police work in concert with federal officers to tear gas and disperse protesters, Friday July 17. </span> <span>Mathieu Lewis-Rolland</span></p></div><p>If it was the Trump administration's intention to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/07/17/whats-happening-portland-shows-trump-is-ignoring-constitution-attacking-america/">"quell" Portland protests </a>by
sending in federal officers to tamp down demonstrations, so far it
hasn't worked. At its largest, Friday night's July 17 rally brought an
estimated 1,000 people to the downtown Multnomah County Justice Center
and Mark Hatfield Federal Courthouse to protest police brutality. </p>
<p>In response, federal officers with the Department of
Homeland Security (DHS) fired an alarming amount of CS tear gas, mace,
smoke, and munitions at the crowd. They appeared to be coordinating
efforts with local Portland Police Bureau (PPB) officers, also quick to
inflict violence on protesters Friday evening—a partnership <a href="https://www.portlandmercury.com/blogtown/2020/07/18/28652209/www.portlandmercury.com/blogtown/2020/07/17/28649667/dhs-secretary-met-with-portland-police-union-president-thursda">PPB denied earlier in the day</a>.</p>
<p>The 50th day of protests in Portland started peacefully at 7 pm with <a href="https://twitter.com/JoAnnPDX/status/1284247841850814464">a candlelight vigil </a>held
by City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty outside the Justice Center. Both
Hardesty and Oregon State Senator Lew Frederick addressed the crowd,
sharing their support of the Black Lives Matter movement, before handing
the mic over to Hip Hop Stands Up, a collective of local musicians and
artists calling for an end to police brutality. While the neighboring
Chapman and Lownsdale squares had been fenced off by law enforcement in
an orchestrated sweep Thursday, protesters had managed to dismantle most
of the fence by Friday evening, allowing attendees to again gather in
the parks that have become a hub for nightly rallies. </p>
<p>Perhaps not coincidentally, the first violence of the
night came from federal officers soon after Hardesty and Frederick left
the park blocks. Around 10 pm, two teams of federal officers emerged
from the west, yelling at protesters to get out of the street. It's
unclear what, if anything, provoked the officers' assault—as no members
of the public were on federal property at the time. The two dozen
officers sprayed mace into the faces of protesters, shot people with
pepper balls, and fired flash bangs and a voluminous amount of <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/tear-gas-is-way-more-dangerous-than-police-let-on-especially-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic">CS gas</a> (or tear gas, which has been temporarily <a href="https://www.opb.org/news/article/tear-gas-ban-portland-judge-lawsuit-dont-shoot/">restricted in Portland by a federal judge</a>) into the crowd, which included children and elderly adults who had been attending the vigil and hip-hop concert. </p>
<p>At roughly the same time federal officers were attacking mostly peaceful protesters, <a href="https://twitter.com/ORDOJ/status/1284344215409852416">Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum announced</a>
that the state will be suing several federal law enforcement agencies
(including DHS, US Marshals, Custom and Border Protection, and others)
for their aggressive, oversized response to protests in Portland.
Included in the suit is an incident that occurred last weekend in which a
protester with his hands in the air was <a href="https://www.opb.org/news/article/federal-officers-portland-protester-shot-less-lethal-munitions/">shot in the head by federal officers</a> and seriously injured. </p>
<p>“Every American should be repulsed when they see this
happening,” Rosenblum wrote in a press statement. “If this can happen
here in Portland, it can happen anywhere.”</p>
<p>Following the temporary dispersal of the crowd in the area around the Justice Center, a crowd of around 300 <a href="https://twitter.com/hungrybowtie/status/1284364653053669381">marched to Mayor Ted Wheeler's residence</a> in the Pearl District to protest <a href="https://www.portlandmercury.com/blogtown/2020/07/14/28632294/hall-monitor-crossing-the-line">his response to the arrival of federal officers</a>
in Portland. By 11:30 pm they had rejoined the crowd of 300 chanting
outside the federal courthouse. That's when people began taking the
fencing that had once surrounded the public parks and began leaning
pieces of fence against the makeshift entrance to the federal
courthouse. Officers had previously been shooting tear gas canisters and
munitions from this entrance.</p>
<p>At midnight, <a href="https://twitter.com/alex_zee/status/1284382190088802305">federal officers tossed a smoke canister</a>
from this entry point to dispel the crowd. Protesters responded by
placing more fencing against the building—secured with with sandbags—as
hundreds sang along to Rage Against the Machine's "Killing in the Name
Of" line: "Fuck you, I won’t do what ya tell me!” </p>
<p>At 12:15 am, Portland police officers—announced that
blocking the doors at the federal courthouse was a crime, and protesters
were <a href="https://twitter.com/alex_zee/status/1284386137306324993">risking arrest and riot control retaliation</a>
by doing so. This inspired the crowd to turn their attention away from
the federal courthouse, and back to the Justice Center, where they began
blocking the doors there. Police responded with <a href="https://twitter.com/MrOlmos/status/1284391533161021440">a brief launching of flash bangs and pepper balls</a>.
Protester barricades were also erected at the Edith Green-Wendell Wyatt
Federal Building that houses 16 federal agencies just south of the
Justice Center. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://twitter.com/alex_zee/status/1284399705678471168">crowd of 300</a> were still in the parks chanting and singing at 1:45 am when <a href="https://twitter.com/PortlandPolice/status/1284405668686921728">PPB declared a large part of downtown "closed,"</a>
ordering protesters to leave the area. When the crowd refused to move, a
line of federal officers launched tear gas and munitions at
demonstrators, appearing to be in concert with PPB's order. Minutes
after, PPB officers emerged from the clouds of gas, pushing protesters
west. This seemingly coordinated effort came hours after PPB Chief Chuck
Lovell explicitly stated that local cops <a href="https://www.portlandmercury.com/blogtown/2020/07/17/28649667/dhs-secretary-met-with-portland-police-union-president-thursday">were not collaborating with federal officers.</a><br></p>
<p>Portland police continued their push forward, <a href="https://twitter.com/alex_zee/status/1284411261719994368">firing more tear gas indiscriminately into downtown streets</a>—injuring <a href="https://twitter.com/alex_zee/status/1284410744558125057">a number of houseless people</a> in the fray.</p>
<p>By 2:30 am, PPB had made several arrests—<a href="https://www.portlandmercury.com/blogtown/2020/07/16/28646550/portland-police-arrest-riot-ribs-volunteers-during-abrupt-morning-sweep">including members of Riot Ribs</a>,
a group of activists who serve free food during the nightly
demonstrations. According to those on the scene, the workers were
packing up the donated food into a U-Haul and were trying to drive away
from downtown when the volunteers were stopped by police.<br></p> <p>The donated food (as well as personal belongings) were confiscated by officers, and <a href="https://twitter.com/riotribs/status/1284444043078963200">according to those with Riot Ribs</a>, their members were <a href="https://twitter.com/alex_zee/status/1284419874438082560">arrested </a>for allegedly trying to elude police. The U-Haul was then towed away by the city after officers slashed the vehicles' tires. </p>
<p>Officers refused to answer questions from the <em>Mercury</em> about the arrests.</p>
<p>Around this same time, several members of the press reported they were being <a href="https://twitter.com/MrOlmos/status/1284422362868285442">threatened and ordered to leave the area</a> by Portland Police—a violation of <a href="https://www.opb.org/news/article/oregon-aclu-federal-law-enforcement-portland-police-lawsuit/">the temporary restraining order put in place by a federal judge</a> to keep law enforcement from targeting media and legal observers during protests.</p>
<p>Police had forcefully dispersed the evening's demonstration by 4 am. More protests are already <a href="https://twitter.com/PNWYLF/status/1284288329098203137">planned for tonight</a>, and now <a href="https://refusefascism.org/">a national movement of rallies</a> in support of peaceful Portlanders who are being snatched up by federal officers are being scheduled as well. </p>
<p>Continuing following the <em>Mercury</em> throughout the weekend for the latest news and updates.</p>
<div><br></div>
</div></div></div>
</div>
<div>
</div>
</div>
</div>