Portland police stand by as Proud Boys and far-right militias flash guns and brawl with antifa count

[swag]

Source: Washington Post

Portland police stand by as Proud Boys and far-right militias flash guns and brawl with antifa counterprotesters

August 22, 2020 at 6:24 p.m.

PORTLAND, Ore. — On Saturday afternoon, a large crowd of more than 100 far-right activists, including Proud Boys and armed militia members, descended on Portland, Ore., staging a “Back the Blue” rally in front of the Justice Center that houses the downtown police precinct. Hundreds of antifa and Black Lives Matter protesters gathered to oppose the far-right crowd.

People in the far-right crowd came armed with paintball guns, metal rods, aluminum bats, fireworks, pepper spray, rifles and handguns. Some people in the opposing left-leaning crowd brought rocks, fireworks and bottles filled with chemical solutions. Both crowds sported shields and helmets.

The two groups sparred for more than two hours, as people exchanged blows, fired paintballs at each other and blasted chemicals indiscriminately into the crowd. People lobbed fireworks back and forth. At least one person was hit in the abdomen with a device that flashed and exploded, causing bleeding.

The rally followed a much smaller right-wing event last week that ended with gunfire. On Wednesday, Portland police arrested and seized a gun from 27-year-old Skylor Noel Jernigan, a far-right activist who has frequently rallied against antifascists in the city in recent years. Many of the same people came out again Saturday, including Alan Swinney, who brandished a gun and pointed it at the opposing crowd.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/08/22/portland-police-far-right-protest/

[swag]

1. context

"The decision not to intervene was a striking contrast to police tactics at several left-leaning Black Lives Matter protests in recent weeks. Officers have consistently declared unlawful assemblies and riots at nighttime protests that have devolved into property damage and projectiles thrown at police. Although those events have involved significant property damage at times, they have not involved firearms or rampant brawling among demonstrators."

[msongs]

2. new help wanted jobs category - professional demonstrator/protestor nt

[mr_lebowski]

3. TrumPutin is licking its chops ... this keeps up people are going to get killed ...

And that shit could spiral easily ... and then the authorities are gonna start coming down HARD.

It's absolutely RIDICULOUS that the police allowed this shit to go down for 2 hours. And suspicious as hell.

[rockfordfile]

4. Has the right-wing Nazi with the gun been arrested?

[SunSeeker]

5. Why are the police letting the armed right wingers and BLM protestors fight? WTF

The police were lobbing tear gas at peaceful BLM protesters in front of the Fed Courthouse a little while ago, but now that the right wing came to violently oppose the protesters, the police are hands off?? Someone is going to get killed. This is insane.

[SharonClark]

7. Apparently wasn't BLM. It was Antifa opposing the

Proud Boys. Hopefully, BLM in Portland has moved on to more productive action than rioting for 90 nights.

[SunSeeker]

8. No, WaPo says BLM was there. And getting shot at with projectiles by the right wingers.

The headline is misleading. As stated in the excerpts in the OP, "Hundreds of antifa and Black Lives Matter protesters gathered to oppose the far-right crowd."

I have a subscription to WaPo so I was able to read the whole article.

One of the injured was a BLM protester:

“I counted six shots — three of them whizzed past me, two of them landed in front of me, but the last one hit me right in the corner my eye, right where the bridge of my nose is,” Means said. “I stumbled back and dropped to my knees and passed out for about a minute, and then when I woke up, there was medics all around me trying to figure out what was happening.”

Means, who described himself as mixed race and a Marine Corps veteran, said he was at the rally to support Black Lives Matter and to oppose a right-wing crowd that was threatening to shoot civilians.

[Humanist_Activist]

11. Gotta love that right wing framing "rioting for 90 nights" is that all you think is happening? n/t

[EX500rider]

15. Pretty much:

a riot has been declared by Portland Police at least 13 times, projectiles have been thrown at officers during at least 55 nights of protests, fires were set during at least 40 nights of protests, and fireworks have been used during at least 29 nights of protests.

?1597973126141

https://katu.com/news/local/portland-police-provide-timeline-of-demonstrations

[vercetti2021]

6. We truly are at war

What Trump is dying for. Civil war amongst us

[SunSeeker]

9. Our police are failing us. Portland police are letting this happen.

If you just let people assault each other, then people will assault each other. This is not a civil war, this is a failure of law enforcement.

[Humanist_Activist]

12. Portland Police are white supremacists, this isn't a failure, its deliberate. n/t

[SunSeeker]

20. Well, they clearly seem to be giving the right wingers a lot of leeway. nt

[CrispyQ]

22. We need serious re-vetting & substantial more training in our police departments.

We need to weed out the racists and those with anger management issues who are prone to violence. Our police departments need to be reminded that they serve us, the taxpayers who pay their wages. Police motto is PROTECT AND SERVE, not divide and conquer.

[AllaN01Bear]

10. i heaby stop paying taxes until this dual standrd stops.

to protect and serve ,my eye.

[Humanist_Activist]

13. I find the bias by the Washington Post to be illuminating. The left-wing protestors were unarmed...

and were attacked without provocation, but its termed a brawl, which assumes both sides were equally involved.

[EX500rider]

16. :The left-wing protestors were unarmed.."

Some people in the opposing left-leaning crowd brought rocks, fireworks and bottles filled with chemical solutions. Both crowds sported shields and helmets.

[Humanist_Activist]

18. The proud boys brought explosives and guns, get out of here with that right wing apologism.n/t

[EX500rider]

19. That does not change what the other side regularly does

The regular "peaceful protests" includes fireworks aimed at officers, rocks thrown, lasers pointed at eyes etc

Many of the protesters wore helmets, eye protection, gas masks and body armor and some carried homemade wooden shields, police said.

Violent demonstrations have happened in Oregon’s largest city for more than two months following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody.

The demonstration Friday that went into Saturday morning came a day after protesters in Portland clashed with federal agents outside a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building.

People in a group of about 100 late Thursday and before dawn Friday sprayed the building with graffiti, hurled rocks and bottles at agents and shined laser lights at them, Portland police said.

https://ktvz.com/news/2020/08/22/portland-police-arrest-9-rioters-in-violent-clash-near-police-station/

[Humanist_Activist]

23. Oh no, they throw rocks and bottles!!!!! The Horror! While the cops shoot them with...

"less than lethal" guns and gas grenades.

[EX500rider]

24. Tell you what...

....you stand across the street from me, I'll shoot at you with Roman Candles, throw some bricks and large rocks at you and a few wine bottles, and shine a laser in your eyes, you tell me if you feel assaulted. I am guessing the answer will be yes and you may end up in the hospital.

[Humanist_Activist]

25. Am I part of a gang that invades your be neighborhoods and kill your friends,

Family and neighbors? If so then I should be lucky you are only throwing bottles.

[EX500rider]

26. I don't believe the Federal guards at..

... the courthouse do any of those things, and yet they have been the target of all of that.

[Humanist_Activist]

27. Actually, considering what has happened vis a vis federal agents in Portland...

I'm surprised more violence hasn't broken out.

[Steelrolled]

14. I'm good with allowing these groups to fight it out.

When you are participating in a "protest" where your fellow participants are wearing helmets and carrying shields, you have to know you are risking bodily harm. And plenty of people will do it anyhow - it is exciting for them. Sort of like football, except it hasn't been cancelled.

[Tommymac]

17. There is no 'Antifa' There are however lots of Anti-Fascists

I hate the media sometimes - antifa is a Right Wing meme.

At best it is a point of view, not an organized group.

And btw - I HATE FASCISTS - so I guess I am 'antifa' in outlook.

[LiberalLovinLug]

21. I do like that the Post actually used the full term here:

"rallied against antifascists"

We all should.

Some are dumb enough that they don't even know that is what it means.