PORTLAND, Oregon. Life has been a series of adjustments for protesters in Portland as they clash with federal agents every night.
“We came out here wearing T-shirts and Hula-Hoops twists and things like that, and they started gassing us, so we came back with respirators and they started shooting at us, so we came back with vests and they started aiming at head, so we started wearing helmets, And now they call us terrorists, ”said Mac Smiff, a local Black organizer in Portland. Who is climbing this? It is not us.
The protests in Portland have been going on for two months, but the situation escalated when federal agents, from the Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection and the US Marshals Service, were deployed to the city from the end of the week of July 4th.
Since then, officers have used tear gas, pepper spray, and fired “less lethal” ammunition, sometimes indiscriminately, at crowds. The city had its biggest turnout in the protests last weekend, when more than 5,000 people gathered in front of and around the United States Palace of Justice Mark O. Hatfield, which has been heavily guarded by federal agents.
As the nights have turned into weeks and months, the protests have evolved. The Wall of Moms appeared last week, dressed in yellow and holding sunflowers as they linked arms to form a physical barrier that separated the protesters, some, their own children, from federal officials. The following night, they were accompanied by the Dads Wall, carrying leaf blowers to launch tear gas towards federal officials.
Not knowing if they will be warned before tear gas fills the air, some protesters come prepared with gas masks and sprays filled with eyewash.
At one point, Navy veteran and protester India Wynne thought it started raining in the middle of the night while wearing his gas mask. Turns out it was the density of what appeared to be pepper spray from federal agents.
“My skin started to burn. Federal officers step up long before we do, and they step up to the point where it is not necessary, ”Wynne said. “I know of crowd control tactics, and this is not what is happening. You don’t need to deploy 20 or 30 tear gas canisters … And they don’t care who they are gassing. “
Agents armed with heavy riot gear have got into altercations with protesters who have created their own protection and makeshift shields, including helmets and armor labeled “Press,” after a restraining order was passed that prevents federal agents arrest or attack journalists and lawyers. observers
Jayla Lindseth, a black protester, urges people to attend the protests with at least a few other friends who can help protect each other and “stop” them.
“When I say arrest, I mean if you see your friend being caught [by officers]Take them back, ”Lindseth advised. “We are here fighting for change.”
While many have preached a nonviolent response to the use of force by federal agents, others are responding by lighting fires and launching mortar fireworks over a fence that agents have erected around federal court.
“Yes, there are some people throwing stones and bricks and bottles of water and fireworks. But they are a small, small fraction of the people who are here to protest, ”said Paul Swortz, one of the Navy veterans next to the Veterinary Wall. “This is a handful of people out of thousands, and you don’t judge thousands of people based on the actions of a handful.”
The Portland Transportation Office filed a cease and desist order Tuesday asking federal agents to remove the fence, alleging that it was illegally placed and that it hinders the city’s right of public passage. The agency added that it has already begun evaluating a maximum fine of $ 500 for every 15 minutes that the fence obstructs the street, which has already totaled nearly $ 200,000 in fines.
The Trump administration deployed the unsolicited and seemingly inopportune federal response to the city to counter protests and protests denouncing police brutality in the wake of the murder of George Floyd while in custody of the Minneapolis police.
The officers, many with dark patches that make them difficult to identify, were charged with overly abusive actions against protesters, according to a lawsuit by several nonprofits, including Protect Democracy, Don’t Shoot Portland, and Wall of Moms. , they presented on behalf of the protesters. Monday.
The complaint alleges that federal agents overstepped their bounds beyond protecting federal property with the use of peppercorns and flash bang explosives, and other similar tactics.
The presence of federal agents has been widely criticized not only by protesters, but also by Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, who has repeatedly asked Trump to remove them.
This week Wheeler called for an “immediate meeting” with the Department of Homeland Security to discuss a “ceasefire.”
Department of Homeland Security officials have not returned a request for comment on that meeting.
Both the Department of Homeland Security and the Marshals Service have said they are already identifying officers to possibly rotate or complement officers in Portland.
As of Wednesday, at least 114 federal officials were known to be in town by a court filed by the government.
Attorney General William Barr also weighed in on the use of federal force in Portland during his testimony before the House Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday.
“Following George Floyd’s death, violent rioters and anarchists have hijacked legitimate protests to wreak havoc and senseless destruction on innocent victims,” he said. “The current situation in Portland is a telling example.”
Barr added that they have had to increase the federal presence in the city in an effort to “protect federal functions and federal buildings.”
Meanwhile, passions become more resolute for protesters who have been rallying for days and even weeks.
“I am so tired of this.” I’m so tired. I lack sleep because I am a single mother and I work full time and I have to come and spend my nights with you because I cannot stand on my own street and say: ‘Black lives matter’, a woman, dressed in a T-shirt yellow with the Wall of Moms, she said Monday night. “Black lives matter, that’s why we’re here. We’re not here for some d– building. We don’t care about the building, we don’t care about your stupid fence, we Black lives matter.
Maura Barrett and David Douglas reported from Portland and Safia Samee Ali from Chicago.
