The
@PortlandPolice
made a loud statement today. They have attacked
#PortlandProtesters
nightly for almost any infraction. But when the Proud Boys come with guns, shields, and metal pipes, and beat protesters and aim firearms, the police do nothing. They sent a message.
Weird how I and about 100 other reporters were down covering the antifascist protest today and literally nothing happened to us. The narrative that protesters were attacking reporters is a blatant lie.
Today was the worst and most violent far-right rally I have ever seen in Portland. It completely eclipsed the ones that happened every couple of months since 2016, involved people pulling guns and beating people on the ground. The police stood blocks away and did nothing.
Weird how it is all the "antifa" and BLM groups who in a matter of a day created over a dozen mutual aid project to house, feed, and provide resources to the 12% of Oregon that is displaced by the fires. Have not seen anything comparable on the right.
Troops in camo have been driving around in an unmarked minivan and snatch-and-grabbing protesters off the street. That is not a paranoid conspiracy, that was just confirmed by mainstream press. This is happening now in Portland.
Jack Posobiec stole this photo of mine and tweeted it with a question that suggested that they were putting quick dry cement in the cups. I watched them prepare the milkshakes and took this photo of it, and there was zero evidence of that. No one has found any concrete.
So 40,000 SEIU Kaiser workers are joining the 32,000 Alliance Kaiser workers in a "sympathy strike." Then 8,000 others may join shortly, as well as NUHW, pharmacists, and engineers. We are talking 80,000+ Kaiser workers on strike. One of the largest healthcare strikes in history.
Andy Ngo has taken it upon himself to publicly drag the person, my friend, who was murdered in a hit and run last night. He has threads with people celebrating Sean’s murder. The suggestion seems to be that he had it coming. Ngo is a monster.
Hey y'all, every state university, major hospital and grocery store in Oregon is about to go on strike. This is as close to a state wide general strike as we have had in years.
Far right militias, Proud Boys, and Q-anon conspiracy people have brought hundreds into Portland to confront anti-police protesters. They are lined up with shields here, many holding batons, pipes, and even guns. Ready to attach. Police have not stopped them.
#PortlandProtests
There is an actual, provable, epidemic of extra-judicial vigilante violence against Black Lives Matter protesters. We can actually point to dozens of attacks in the past several months. That is real, not fantasy.
When I say the protesters have not been violent in comparison to the police, this is what I’m talking about. Protesters light trash fires and break windows. The police are doing this. They aren’t comparable.
After three months of beating protesters nightly for things as small as carrying shields, the
@PortlandPolice
have allowed Proud Boys and militia members savagely beat protesters literally right now and are doing nothing to stop it. Many militia members carrying guns.
My hometown of Seaside, Oregon was overrun by tourists going to the beach this weekend. The low-income locals who make that town run are hiding inside with a level of anger I’ve never seen and is totally justified.
Anyone that thinks that protesters are the violent one should just check the Twitter hashtag "call the police" where people glorify killing protesters for essentially vandalizing things. There is an epidemic of vigilantes attacking protesters and they keep blaming the victims.
The Portland police attacked protesters without any provocation I could see. People are injured. Apparently the local police are just as violent as federal officers, just like protesters had said.
There is a lot of confusion about what the term "ecofascism" means and how environmentalism has historically had some connections to white supremacy, nativism, and far-right politics, so here is a reading list of useful resources to understand this complicated subject. *thread*
Tonight was the most brutal treatment that the police have given protesters that I have seen, beating people who were running away, attacking journalists, savagely and cruely mocking people too hurt to escape. At it was Portland Police, not the feds.
@tedwheeler
what will you do?
Trump declaring “Antifa” terrorists gives law enforcement cover to run grand juries, tack on phony charges, use excessive force, and lay siege on basically any activist standing up against the Right. This should be frightening.
Richard Spencer recently said that Glenn Greenwald is, perhaps, the most influential journalist on the Right today. Hard to argue with, and a testament to where Greenwald has decided to stake his reputation.
I have to be honest, this is infuriating. The police let the Proud Boys attack and beat protesters, who did nothing wrong, and now that the far-right has left, they are brutalizing the BLM protesters also.
#PortlandProtest
Back at Terry Schrunk Plaza, this has been declared an unlawful assembly. As I arrive, DHS advances. This man sits shirtless in the center of the park and is pushed shot in the leg with a pepperball and then shoved down.
Protesters were able to get into the luxury mall and loot the Louis Vutton store. It was a stark symbol of wealth disparity, and the way that power often protects symbols of the rich. “Expropriate” was being chanted.
The silence of the right-wing "free speech" crowd as protesters are forced out of their rallies, curfews are ordered, and the press is attacked speaks volumes about what their rants are really about.
With all this talk of "antifa" today, I wanted to draw people back to my story about how, despite the "antifa wildfire" conspiracy theories, it was actually antifascists who led much of the relief work to support those affected by Oregon's wildfires.
@USArmy
My best friend from high school was denied his mental health treatment and forced to return to a third tour in Iraq, despite having such deep trauma that he could barely function. He took a handful of sleeping pills and shot himself in the head two weeks before deploying.
Ok starting a new thread for live tweeting Andy NGO’s book “Antifa Unmasked.” I’m on the Portland chapter and it’s getting good: apparently antifa has hand signals, free food, and millions of dollars. Let’s see what happens next...
The persistence of antiracist protesters is always astonishing. After the attacks, they stick around to march the Proud Boys out of town. These BLM protests are not disappearing from Portland anytime soon.
I have had 13 reporters reach out to me in the past 9 days for advice on bulletproof vests and helmets and gas masks they can use on election night. Their primary concern is the police, the second concern is armed far-right people.
While
#AntifaTerrorists
is trending, here is just a friendly reminder that all acts of political murder last year came from the far-right. Antifa had none.
It’s almost as though it was sticking a go pro in people’s faces and following them without anything or journalistic interest taking place is what makes people mad, not reporting.
So militia members are actively holding up efforts to evacuate areas that are on fire because they think antifa or some other suspicious party may be responsible for the fires. This has serious consequences.
There’s not enough time to take a breath in between police killings. I don’t even have enough time to get to the March confronting one police killing before the next one happens. It’s just an accelerating spiral of unaccountable violence.
When we were doing this with Take Back the Land it became so popular with the surrounding community that pressure was put on the sheriff's office to back down, and they did.
@IwriteOK
The emotional responsibility I place on my cat is my mental health house of cards. He better outlive me otherwise this whole things gonna collapse.
There is a full scale siege happening on Portland from a collaboration of federal and local law enforcement to put down demonstrations, and even as a protester lies in the hospital in uncertain condition the police are holding the line that their munitions are non-lethal.
So Andy Ngo just published this article about a murdered young activist (my close friend) in Portland, digging up old anarchist zines they wrote. There is zero news value to this, just to try to find further reasons that people shouldn't mourn their lost loved one. Unbelievable.
People should really not miss the irony of scale: The Portland Police Chief says "violence is not the answer" while ordering the violent assault of hundreds nightly. Protesters on the other hand do things like shine laser pointers, spray paint buildings, and light trash fires.
I have been working on this story for 6 months with
@IwriteOK
and
@hungrybowtie
. We saw never before released videos taken by Alan Swinney where he discusses violence used against "antifa," as well as transfer of weapons.
My close friend was killed in a hit and run in front of Cider Riot last night. We don’t really know who was behind it, or why, yet. But today I’ll just remember Sean’s genuine kindness, it was always within reach.
The counter-response to Patriot Prayer was just massive, totally overwhelmed SW Portland. Patriot Prayer did bring in a large number of people, but it was less than a third of the response.
I took a lot of photos of the milkshakes (and video) and stood there watching them be made and saw zero evidence of this. Most people were drinking them. It was hot.
Police have received information that some of the milkshakes thrown today during the demonstration contained quick-drying cement. We are encouraging anyone hit with a substance today to report it to police.
This is the more accurate representation of who comes out to protest drag queen storyhour. Pretty clear that we need comprehensive community self-defense to protect against this. Just ignoring them tells them they can escalate.
So the KKK says they are having a rally in Portland, when they see an antifascist protest form they drop out. Patriot Front marches in DC with police protection, doing it without announcement. It’s almost like the threat of community protest is what makes them back down.
I've been writing about antifascist activism for years, I did a whole book about it, and I have a very good eye for how those social movements work. There is no evidence that the Ohio shooter is involved in antifascist activism in any way. That's an educated read of the evidence.
Fox News already reporting that there was concrete in the milkshake cups as fact despite zero evidence. Far-right figures, white nationalists, InfoWars and others drumming up rage for people to attack leftist protesters.
When civilization was collapsing when I was stranded at the Denver airport I came across not one, but two people reading After the Revolution by
@IwriteOK
, which I took to mean that we are currently living his opening chapter.
I am genuinely baffled at how the Portland Police think they are going to bring the civil unrest to a close. Does firing off teargas canisters into residential districts make them more popular with the city?
Andy Ngo has been trolling the death of an antifascist in Portland. This is his reaction when someone did that to him a while back. See, he gets it. He just chooses not to care.
This person drove their car as fast as possible in the direction of the protesters after an altercation with demonstrators. It seemed like an intentional effort to hit protesters
#PortlandProtests
The loud voices complaining about antifa seem really concerned about spray paint but seems totally fine with unmarked vans arresting people without warning and no easily identified crime. It's almost as if it isn't violence they object to, just who it is against
There is zero evidence that the Dayton shooter had anything to do with antifascism, antifascist organizations, or anything in between. Any claims to the contrary are cynical ideological rhetoric and click-bait, and it will get people killed.
Just left the
#RedHouse
eviction blockade, it’s the most impressive I’ve ever seen. There is a real community that has formed, food and resources, full infrastructure of mutual aid. Will be back later, this is an example of the kind of world that’s possible.
Could someone explain to me how this is acceptable? I'm totally open to listening and hearing you. I am baffled as to how we have created a society that sees this as normal and reasonable. But maybe I am the idiot here.
What the “good protester/bad protester” narratives erase is the fundamental power differential between the police and protesters. Police behavior is laced with heavy violence at all levels, both in its maintenance of violent structures and the violence they use on people.
I am honestly perplexed at how people can watch this and then say that it is protester behavior, not police, that are frightening. This is scary as hell.
One of the most central messages from every speaker at the Survivor Speakout today was thanks to Antifa for providing safety to the community. A very different message than we often hear.
What's happening in Oregon right now is being called the beginning of a
#GeneralStrike
, a strike happening simultaneously across a range of industries. This speaks to the national strike wave happening the past 2 years. (thread)
#OregonGeneralStrike
New from me: I look at recent attempts by Matthew Heimbach and other far-right leaders to rebrand as antiwar socialists. The investigation reveals this to be a continuation of their neo-Nazi beliefs, and some on the left are providing them cover. *thread*
I've never seen police more determined to make themselves look like the enemy of the community they are policing, and in the most public spectacle possible. via
@YahooNews
Being attacked by the police tonight was traumatic, what I saw happen to protesters and reporters was as ugly as it gets. It's really hard to do just write down observations without speaking up in total outrage about this.
The
@splcenter
began tracking male supremacy last year. The ideology misrepresents all women as genetically inferior, manipulative and stupid and reduces them to their reproductive function.
I should say that the federal munitions and tear gas likely caused more injuries, but the Portland police were personally savage, mocking and victimizing people. No provocation, no claim of violence, no cover of protection. The police just rioted tonight.