Fascists chanting “go back to your safe space!” as they stand behind a line of cops in riot gear is something else.
— Cat Síth (@HeadphoneSpace) August 5, 2018
Good pictures from the Oregonian here: https://t.co/78GDwGTdtv
— JJ MacNab (@jjmacnab) August 5, 2018
I couldn’t figure out why the “Proud Flesh Bois” and their “Patriot Prey-er” buddies picked last weekend for their cosplay riot, until I found this Daily Beast article by Corey Pein:
Hundreds of armed supporters of President Donald Trump, led by a fringe Republican congressional candidate, marched on Saturday, leaving blood from scattered street fights in their wake.
Ostensibly a campaign event for long-shot U.S. Senate hopeful Joey Gibson, members of his group Patriot Prayer urged the president to lock up his political opponents, including Hillary Clinton, and promised violent retribution for anyone who threatened their right to “free speech” or armed self-defense. Groups of Trump supporters swarmed through the streets, singling out people of color to fight, some of whom appeared to belong to small vigilante squads of local anti-fascists, as well as others who appeared to be mere passersby. Police announced four arrests, but gave no estimate of injuries.
Extremist group watchdogs such as the Southern Poverty Law Center warned ahead of the event that it could turn into “another Charlottesville.” It did not, but only in the sense that no one was killed. Such warnings, prompted by Gibson’s provocations, put all eyes on the rally…
His supporters flocked from around the West Coast and the country, a contingent of Proud Boys, “Three Percenter” militia members, Trump-supporting bikers, fundamentalist Christians, and college Republicans. Gibson had insinuated that his supporters would bring guns into the city and many apparently did, although to comply with local ordinances, the weapons stayed stowed in backpacks…
you gotta admire the dedication it takes for the proud boys to show up completely outnumbered and get their asses kicked every time they crossed the street and then try to spin it as a win because the cops shot a tear gas grenade at a counter-protester’s head
— frank furtschool (@kulturalmarx) August 5, 2018
Per the local Oregonian, today:
A traumatic brain injury. Third-degree chemical burns. Open wounds.
At least three people who gathered to protest a rally by right-wing group Patriot Prayer were hospitalized Saturday because of injuries sustained from crowd-control munitions fired by Portland police, according to activists, counter-protest organizers and a media report.
The city’s police chief, Danielle Outlaw, on Monday offered her most passionate defense yet of officer tactics used to keep the rival poetical factions apart.
Police succeeded in preventing violent clashes between armed demonstrators that many had feared, she said…
“It was going to be a very rowdy, physically violent ruckus and it was not that because of the actions that the officers took,” Outlaw said…
Protests again convulse Portland, Ore., as groups on the right and left face off https://t.co/AtUV7b76sL
— JJ MacNab (@jjmacnab) August 5, 2018
Fighting Fascists Open Thread: The Weekend Portland ProtestPost + Comments (108)