Portland protests: Police use ‘flash bangs’ at right-wing rally that drew counter-protesters – By Doug Stanglin and Christal Hayes (usatoday.com) / Aug 4 2018
The right-wing Patriot Prayer rally drew a large group of counter-protesters. Portland Police say the flash bangs were used after rocks and bottles were thrown at officers. USA TODAY
Police used “flash bang” devices to disperse hundreds of protesters and counter-protesters who gathered at a right-wing rally in downtown Portland Saturday.
The right-wing Patriot Prayer rally was met by hundreds of counter-protesters, including many self-described anti-fascists. It started off peaceful but turned chaotic after police say a group started throwing rocks and bottles at officers. At least one person was injured and several were detained because of the ruckus.
(Photo: Thomas Patterson, AFP/Getty Images)
A photo posted on Twitter showed Eder Campuzano, a reporter for The Oregonian, holding his bloodied head after he was struck by a projectile.
Campuzano wrote on Twitter that he was “okay” but was getting treated. No other injuries were immediately reported.
Officers on loudspeakers told those in the crowd to disperse or be arrested, dubbing the gathering a “civil disturbance.” “All people must disperse,” police repeatedly said over loudspeakers. “You are ordered to disperse.”
The threats from police quickly simmered down the crowd as groups moved in all directions, mostly leaving the area. The crowd dissipated as the afternoon wore on with no other reports of clashes or violence.
The large contingent of boisterous, dueling protesters is the third such face-off in Portland in two months.
The event also unfolded ahead of the one-year anniversary of the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, last August that deteriorated into clashes and left one person dead.
People on both sides of Saturday’s protests swarmed the area wearing protective pads or vests, many also donning masks or bandanas.
The counter-protesters were made up of a coalition of labor unions, immigrant rights advocates, democratic socialists and other groups. They included people dressed as clowns and a brass band blaring music.
As the right-wing group Patriot Prayer led a “freedom march” in Portland, Oregon, counter-protesters made sure they knew they weren’t welcome. USA TODAY
As some counter-protesters chanted “Nazis go home,” police in riot gear kept the two groups separated by barricades and by a street in front of the waterfront park.
At one point, police said on bullhorns that they had observed some people among the counter-protesters carrying weapons and ordered a section of the event area cleared.
Police warned via Twitter that no one carrying a rifle, shotgun or other long-gun would be allowed into Tom McCall park – the site of the rally.
Police also said that any item such as a flag pole or a homemade shield that could be used as a weapon would be confiscated.
On the eve of the event, Mayor Ted Wheeler said he had “serious concerns” about possible violence.
Supporters attend the right-wing rally with a heavy police presence on Aug. 4, 2018, in Portland, Ore. Karen Ducey, Getty Images
The march, planned for months, was organized by Joey Gibson, leader of the Patriot Prayer group, and a long-shot Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in the state of Washington.
He led a march around the waterfront then stopped to pray and speak to the crowd. Several protesters, who had their faces covered, took the microphone.
“This is what unity is all about,” one protester told the crowd, adding that even though there is fear of danger, “this is what it takes to stand for what we believe in.”
The event comes five weeks after clashes between left and right on June 30 in which both sides, including masked anti-fascist groups, battled in downtown Portland, pummeling and striking each other. Police declared the event a riot and revoked rally permits.
Patriot Prayer arriving weapons checkpoints underway #KOIN6NEWS pic.twitter.com/JTdHQqtxES
— Lisa Balick (@lisabKOIN) August 4, 2018
A similar Patriot Prayer event on June 4 devolved into fistfights and assaults by both sides as police struggled to keep the groups apart.
As supporters jostled among the crowds at the park, Gibson took a mic to rally the already boisterous crowd, saying, “We are going to make change. We just keep going.”
He said that the group was there to express their views as guaranteed by the Constitution, not to fight but that many had to wear heavy gear to protect themselves against anti-fascists.
At one point, Gibson referred to the counter-protesters as “punks” who, he said, were an obstacle to bringing people of the right and left together.
“A lot of people at the top are laughing their asses off,” Gibson told the crowd. “They are taking full advantage of dividing us up while the government gets bigger and bigger.”
Gibson said in a live video on Facebook earlier this week that he won’t stop bringing his followers to Portland until they can express their right-wing views without interference.
“I refuse to do what Portland wants me to do because what Portland wants me to do is to shut up and never show up again,” he said.
Organizers of a counter-protest said that while Patriot Prayer denies being a white supremacist group, it affiliates itself with known white supremacists, white nationalists and neo-Nazi gangs.
In addition, self-described anti-fascists – or “antifa” – organized anonymously online to confront Patriot Prayer and an affiliated group, the Proud Boys, in the streets.
The Facebook page for Resist Patriot Prayer: Violent Alt-Right Bigots Off Our Streets,” the group said it is willing to use physical force if necessary against “Joey and his Alt Right goons.”
“History has shown that militant resistance is a necessary and important tool in the fight against fascism,” the event page said. “We make no apologies for the use of force in keeping our communities safe from the scourge of right-wing violence. Make no mistake, these people are coming here with the intent to harm and threaten people.”
Effie Baum, a spokesperson with Popular Mobilization, said her group was formed solely to mobilize counter-protesters for Saturday, OregonLive reports.
“One thing we all have in common is our opposition to white supremacy, transphobia and homophobia,” said Baum said, according to OregonLive.
“Patriot Prayer is continuing to commit violence in our city, and their events are becoming more and more violent,” she said. “Leaving them a small group to attack in the streets is only going to allow them to perpetuate their violence.”
