Portland

Federal Agents Use Tear Gas To Clear Portland Protest

July 25, 2020 Gillian Flaccus and Sarah Cline, AP News. Educate! Chemical Weapons, Freedom of Assembly, Portland, Rebellion2020

Thousands of protesters gathered outside the federal courthouse in Portland, Oregon, into the early hours of Saturday shooting fireworks at the building as plumes of tear gas, dispensed by U.S. agents, lingered above. The demonstration went on for hours until federal agents entered the crowd around 2:30 a.m. and marched in a line down the street, clearing remaining protesters with tear gas at close range. They also extinguished a large fire in the street outside the courthouse. The Federal Protective Service had declared the gathering as “an unlawful assembly” and cited that officers had been injured.

Border Patrol Violently Assaults Civil Rights And Liberties

July 24, 2020 Andrea Flores and Shaw Drake, ACLU.org. Educate! Civil Liberties, Customs and Border Patrol, Portland, State Violence

In the past week, unidentified federal officers in camouflage fatigues, labeled only “police,” abducted people off the streets of Portland in unmarked vehicles and threatened the “Wall of Moms” standing up for our Constitution. The administration later confirmed the unidentified officers were Border Patrol agents. This blatant demonstration of unconstitutional authoritarianism is demonstrating to the entire country the cruel capabilities of the U.S. Border Patrol. For communities that have historically borne the brunt of Border Patrol’s abuses — and still do — seeing these agents pose as a “secret federal police” force on the streets of Portland is no surprise. The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency, which includes Border Patrol, has been conducting secret, violent arrests of immigrants for years.

Portland’s Mayor Tear-Gassed By Militarized US Police

July 23, 2020 Gillian Flaccus, AP. Resist! Police abuse, Portland, Tear Gas, Ted Wheeler

The mayor of Portland, Oregon was tear-gassed by U.S. government agents as he stood outside a federal courthouse during another night of protests against the presence of federal police sent by President Donald Trump to quell the city’s ongoing unrest. Mayor Ted Wheeler, a Democrat, appeared slightly dazed and coughed and said Wednesday night it was the first time he’d been tear-gassed. He put on a pair of goggles someone handed him and drank water but did not leave his spot at the front of the protest and continued to take tear gas as the demonstration raged — with protesters lighting a large fire between protective fencing and the Mark O. Hatfield Federal Courthouse amid the pop-pop-pop sounds of the federal agents deploying tear gas and stun grenades into the crowd.

Federal Agents Retreat To Portland Base As Protesters Control Streets

July 23, 2020 By Chris McGreal , The Guardian. Resist! Donald Trump, Police abuse, Portland, Rebellion2020

The DHS officers dispatched by the president to put down the demonstrations have instead become prisoners of the building they are ostensibly there to defend. “The feds don’t have control of the streets,” said a woman holding a sign “100% not a terrorist”, who gave her name only as Shannon. “I think they’re more scared than us. They’re hiding in there. They don’t know what they’re doing.” If the intent was to intimidate the protesters into abandoning the few square blocks of downtown Portland under their control, it backfired spectacularly. Residents of a city with a long history of radical street protest were outraged at the tactics which suddenly revitalized a protest movement that was waning after more than 50 nights of demonstrations. It is now the federal agents who appear under siege, reduced to defending the courthouse from attempts to break in or set it on fire. In a visible surrender of ground, the DHS taskforce has even abandoned bothering to re-erect a fence around the federal building torn down on Saturday night.

New Civil Rights Lawsuit Filed Against Federal Law Enforcement

July 23, 2020 By Jonathan Levinson, Oregon Public Broadcasting. Resist! Federalism, Legal System, Police abuse, Portland

The Western States Center, the First Unitarian Church of Portland, two state representatives and an ACLU legal observer are listed as plaintiffs in the lawsuit, which alleges the federal government has violated protesters’ 10th Amendment rights. It was filed Tuesday in federal court. The 10th Amendment delineates the separation of powers between federal and state governments. “The power to engage in ordinary law enforcement is one of the long-recognized powers that belong to the states and to their municipalities,” said Cliff Davidson, an attorney with Snell & Wilmer, the firm filing the lawsuit. The Western States Center, an Oregon-based activism group, alleges that the arrival of federal law enforcement reversed progress the organization had made in de-escalating conflict between the Portland Police Bureau and protesters.

Protesters Attacked By Police Are Suing To Vindicate Their Constitutional Rights

July 21, 2020 By Marjorie Cohn, Truthout. Resist! Constitutional Rights, Police abuse, Police violence, Portland

Protesters demonstrating against white supremacy and police brutality in the wake of George Floyd’s public lynching have been met with illegal repression by law enforcement. Police have utilized toxic chemical and sonic weapons, dangerous projectiles, intrusive surveillance, physical violence and “kettling” to trap demonstrators after dispersal orders are given. People are suing to protect their constitutional rights.Plaintiffs allege that police misconduct resulted in the violation of their First, Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights. They charge that the LAPD used “indiscriminate and unreasonable force against thousands of protesters” and used unreasonable and excessive force by hitting “at least close to a thousand protesters with batons and/or ‘rubbers bullets.’” Plaintiffs attest to being restrained with tight handcuffs, denied bathroom access and access to food or water, and provided insufficient ventilation during transport, making them vulnerable to COVID-19.

Secret Police On The Streets Of PDX

July 21, 2020 Members of Black Rose Anarchist Federation, Black Rose. Resist! Anarchism, Police abuse, Police violence, Portland

Portland has now become a proving ground for the Trump administration to demonstrate its ‘law and order’ bona fides in the run-up to the 2020 election. Federal police, with little information available as to which agencies they specifically work for, have become more active in the repression of demonstrations in the city. A number of recent videos have captured this secret police force, members of which wear military fatigues, grabbing demonstrators off the street and shuttling them away in unmarked vehicles. We caught up with a member of our Portland local to find out more about what’s been happening on the ground.

Portland Protester, Navy Veteran, Describes Beating By Federal Officers

July 21, 2020 By Zane Sparling, Portland Tribune. Resist! federal law enforcement, Police abuse, Police violence, Portland

David stood as solidly as a rock while federal officers pepper-sprayed him twice and struck him at least five times with a baton during a rally outside the Hatfield Courthouse on Saturday, July 18. "I knew I was never going to react. I was never going to fight back," he said. "I'm a little too old to be beaten by a bunch of young guys." David, 53, of Portland, is hardly an anti-establishment type. He says he attended the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, after high school, later serving with the Navy Seabees while becoming a commissioned officer and aeronautical engineer. David is hoping life will return to normal soon. While he never did speak with the camouflaged feds, he said he hopes they hear his message: "That oath of office is essentially swearing loyalty to the Constitution of the United States, and what they're doing is not constitutional anymore."

Inside The Battle For Portland

July 20, 2020 Shane Burley, Waging Nonviolence. Resist! Anti-Racism Protests, Independent media, Police violence, Portland

On the night of July 11, as hundreds of Black Lives Matter protesters amassed around the Justice Center in Portland, Oregon, federal Homeland Security officers opened fire with “crowd control” munitions. They shot a teargas canister directly at the head of Donavan LaBella, a peaceful protester who had been standing across the street holding a sign. The video that captured the protester — unconscious, bleeding and being carried to safety by other demonstrators and street medics — went viral almost immediately, pushing state officials to make public statements and demand that federal law enforcement pull back. This video was shot by a 17-year-old independent journalist Garrison Davis, who was filming on his cell phone and broadcasting on Twitter.

Oregon Officials Decry Federal Agents After Protest Clashes

July 19, 2020 Andrew Selsky and Gillian Flaccus, AP News. Educate! Donald Trump, Oregon, Police abuse, Portland

Militarized federal agents deployed by the president to Portland, Oregon, fired tear gas against protesters again overnight as the city’s mayor demanded that the agents be removed and as the state’s attorney general vowed to seek a restraining order against them. Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum also sued Homeland Security and the Marshals Service in federal court Friday night. The complaint alleges that unidentified federal agents have grabbed people off Portland’s streets “without warning or explanation, without a warrant, and without providing any way to determine who is directing this action.” Rosenblum said she was seeking a temporary restraining order to “immediately stop federal authorities from unlawfully detaining Oregonians.” Federal agents, some wearing camouflage and some wearing dark Homeland Security uniforms used tear gas at least twice to break up crowds late Friday night, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported.

Oregon Sues Federal Agencies Over Protest Enforcement

July 18, 2020 Conrad Wilson, Dirk VanderHart and Meerah Powell, OPB. Resist! Customs and Border Patrol, Department of Homeland Security, Police violence, Portland

The Oregon Department of Justice is suing several federal agencies for civil rights abuses, and state prosecutors will potentially pursue criminal charges against a federal officer who seriously injured a protester. The federal lawsuit names the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Marshals Service, the United States Customs and Border Protection and the Federal Protective Service, agencies that have had a role in stepped-up force used against protesters since early July. The state filed the lawsuit late Friday night. It lists defendants specifically as John Does 1-10 because the “identity of the officers is not known, nor is their agency affiliation,” the lawsuit states.

ACLU Sues Trump Administration Over Use Of Secret Police In Portland

July 18, 2020 Jake Johnson, Commondreams. Resist! ACLU, Police violence, Portland, Trump Administration

The American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Oregon sued the Trump administration late Friday over its deployment of federal agents to Portland, where unidentified officials from the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Marshals Service have been detaining Black Lives Matter protesters without explanation and using indiscriminate force to crush demonstrations. "This is a fight to save our democracy," Kelly Simon, interim legal director with the ACLU of Oregon, said in a statement. "Under the direction of the Trump administration, federal agents are terrorizing the community, risking lives, and brutally attacking protesters demonstrating against police brutality.

Portland Mayor Condemns Masked Federal Agents Abducting Protesters

July 18, 2020 Alan Macleod, Mintpress News. Educate! federal law enforcement, First Amendment, Police violence, Portland

Anonymous masked federal agents in military uniforms jump out of unmarked minivans, abducting seemingly random people on the street in Portland, frightening new viral videos show. Officers from the U.S. Marshals Special Operations Group and Customs and Border Protection’s BORTAC have been sent to the city to tamp down of 49 days of continuous demonstrations against racist police brutality. The move appears to be the Trump administration’s latest tactic to crush the nationwide protests that erupted in late May over the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis Police.

50 Nights Of Anti-Racist Protests And Police Violence In Portland

July 17, 2020 Kevin Zeese, Popular Resistance. Resist! federal law enforcement, First Amendment, Police violence, Portland

In Portland, on July 16, protesters held their 50th straight night of demonstrations against police violence and racism. Oregon Live reports "Federal officers responded to one late-night demonstration downtown by using gas, smoke and impact munitions to press protesters away from two federal buildings." Oregon Governor Kate Brown and Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler called on federal officers to leave Portland, but they remain and continue to use aggressive and violent tactics. Brown called the deployment of federal officers "political theater" and a “blatant abuse of power by the federal government.” Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf traveled to Portland to meet with federal law enforcement officials.

CLDC Seeks To Assert Climate Necessity Defense In Response To Extinction Rebellion Portland Protest Charges

January 20, 2020 By Lauren Regan, Cldc.org Resist! Climate Change, Extinction Rebellion, Portland, Protests

Portland, OR — Yesterday CLDC attorneys, joined by co-counsel and Portland attorney Kenneth Kreuscher, filed a brief in the Multnomah County Circuit Court on behalf of our clients, a group of Extinction Rebellion (XR) Portland activists, to put the State of Oregon on notice that we intend to present an affirmative defense known as the “necessity” or “choice of evils” defense.

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