Portland police under fire for harsh treatment of Antifa

There was another Patriot Prayer rally in Portland this weekend and Portland police are being criticized this morning by the ACLU for their rough treatment of Antifa. From KATU:

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The American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon said Portland Police Bureau’s response to Saturday’s protest was “completely unacceptable” in a statement it issued Sunday.

The Police Bureau is under scrutiny after some protesters reported they were injured when officers used “less lethal” force to control the crowd.

Now, police say they’re conducting an internal investigation to see if officers followed bureau policies.

Even Kathy Griffin is upset:

The action all took place Saturday afternoon when Joey Gibson’s Patriot Prayer group showed up in Portland and was met by a larger group of protesters and masked Antifa members. The police tried to keep the two groups apart and began seizing anything that could be used as weapons. I’m relying heavily for the play-by-play on Mike Bivins who covered this scene for hours Saturday:

https://twitter.com/itsmikebivins/status/1025795312823091200

https://twitter.com/itsmikebivins/status/1025796784193294336

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Police gave Antifa the same treatment:

https://twitter.com/itsmikebivins/status/1025799123788738563

A little while later and the Antifa/counter-protesters are marching:

https://twitter.com/itsmikebivins/status/1025814887790866432

Naturally, this being the left, they are chanting anti-police slogans as well:

https://twitter.com/itsmikebivins/status/1025815553514991616

For a while, there was a standoff with Antifa on one side of the street and Patriot Prayer on the other side separated by police:

https://twitter.com/itsmikebivins/status/1025817231257624576

Around 12:30 pm, police ordered Antifa to leave the area. You can listen to the loudspeaker announcement in this next clip. Police state they have spotted weapons in the crowd.

https://twitter.com/itsmikebivins/status/1025825044503490560

Antifa goons making their way to the front. Bivins called them Soviet Squad:

https://twitter.com/itsmikebivins/status/1025825766200631296

When asked why he called them this, he responded:

https://twitter.com/itsmikebivins/status/1025871689995841537

In any case, the Antifa people were not there for a peaceful protest.

https://twitter.com/itsmikebivins/status/1025826215985262592

They weren’t kidding either. This guy trying to hold onto his flag got hit in the head with a bat:

https://twitter.com/itsmikebivins/status/1025828795784167425

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https://twitter.com/itsmikebivins/status/1025866889048674304

For a while, both groups were marching around the streets with Patriot Prayer’s movements being tracked by large groups of Antifa. Police appear to be trying to get Antifa to back off:

https://twitter.com/itsmikebivins/status/1025847264902672384

And that’s when the police started using flash-bang grenades to get people to disperse:

https://twitter.com/itsmikebivins/status/1025851250980478976

In this clip, police explain over a loudspeaker why they’re trying to get Antifa to disperse: Officers have observed protesters throwing “rocks and bottles. The projectiles were thrown at officers…”

https://twitter.com/itsmikebivins/status/1025854543261626368

This Antifa guy stole a MAGA hat from a black woman but eventually gave it back:

https://twitter.com/itsmikebivins/status/1025876158083031040

Some scuffles with police trying to keep order:

https://twitter.com/itsmikebivins/status/1025891159837560832

Patriot prayer eventually left on buses, headed back to Washington state:

https://twitter.com/itsmikebivins/status/1025900388472446976

After 8 hours of protesting, four people were arrested and three people were treated for injuries. Police posted a press release about the day’s events on their website including the damaging of several police cars (you can guess who did that):

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When officers arrived in the area of Southwest Naito Parkway and Southwest Columbia Boulevard, they learned multiple police vehicles, possibly with officers inside the vehicles, were trapped in a group of protesters who were throwing an unknown chemical agent as well as other projectiles at officers. Officers provided directions to the protesters using the sound truck, as well as deployed riot control agents and less lethal impact weapons. The officers located three damaged police vehicles after the crowd moved from the vehicles. There were no officers inside the vehicles.

You can see photos of the damaged cars here. Portland has been the scene of regular clashes between Patriot Prayer and Antifa. I wrote about similar marches/rallies in June and July. Portland was also recently the scene of an extended Occupy ICE protest which was aided by Democratic Mayor Ted Wheeler. Antifa seemed to be expressing their approval of the Mayor over the weekend:

https://twitter.com/itsmikebivins/status/1025823337774075905

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