The many extremes of Portland collide in protest

[NobodyHere]

Source: cnn.com

Portland, Oregon (CNN)Police used pepper spray to break up competing protests in Portland, Oregon, on Sunday as a tangled web of emotions arose over a deadly train stabbing in May.

Portland Police said they closed Chapman Square due to criminal activity and threatened to arrest anyone who remained in the park. Officers deployed impact weapons and chemical munitions after protesters threw projectiles at them including glass bottles and bricks, officials said.


Most of the people who left were protesting an event billed as a "Trump Free Speech" rally. Hundreds of supporters of US President Donald Trump converged on Terry D. Schrunk Plaza for the demonstration carrying "Make America Great Again" signs and wearing the corresponding red hats.

They were slightly outnumbered by the mixed assemblage of counterprotesters across the street led by a group of self-described anti-fascists who viewed the free speech rally as a promotion of racism.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/04/us/portland-protests/index.html

[politicat]

1. Twitter on the ground has vastly different numbers.

50-200 alt-Reich, 200-400 cops, 3000-4000 counter-protesters, from Buddhist silent, DemSocialists, union members and antifa as the protective outer ring. The snapshots and video in #defendPDX look to tally with those reports.

There's at least one report of Homeland Security being the major LEO on the ground and doing the arresting, not PDX PD.

[SecularMotion]

2. Alt-Right Skips Town as Portland Dodges Serious Violence in Street Confrontations

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Meanwhile, in Terry Schrunk Plaza, alt-right demonstrators wondered how they could safely leave. They asked each other what to do next, wondering if they could escape the park and the city without being accosted.

But the police "kettling" of antifa several blocks away gave the alt-right protesters room to leave.

Supporters of the free speech rally dwindled to about 100 people after police declared the square closed. They faced off with about three times that many counterprotesters. Then the rally leadership emerged, flanked by about a dozen bikers they had hired to provide event security.

From there, the rally leaders wandered through the city, looking for the parking garage where they left their cars. Some were from Tacoma, others from the Bay Area or Vancouver, Washington. None knew where they were going and some seemed genuinely scared of the protesters who followed.


http://www.wweek.com/news/2017/06/04/alt-right-skips-town-as-portland-dodges-serious-violence-in-street-confrontations/

[Initech]

3. Cowards!!!

Go FOAK yourselves, Fraternal Order Of Alt Knights!