Oh boy. Is this about to get ugly?
Kari Chisholm
Photo from the Oregonian's Randy Rasmussen. Yes, that's pepper spray.
So far, I've been proud of our city - protesters acting reasonably, police acting reasonably. I'm really hoping that we're not about to see a turn for the worse, on the part of officers losing their cool.
From the Mercury's Denis Theriault:
During a choreographed effort to pull a few dozen protesters out of the Chase bank branch outside Pioneer Square, part of today's hundreds-strong N17 day of action, Portland police officers resorted to a decidedly more muscular show of force in a clash watched by TV cameras and rush-hour commuters earlier this evening. Suddenly all the fun—the dance parties, the union songs, the peaceful arrests earlier on the Steel Bridge and at Wells Fargo—was for naught.
Tromping in with mounted officers, they pushed marchers who had gathered on the sidewalks along SW Yamhill into the street—forcing them to block MAX trains, something no one was doing until the heavily armored riot squad showed up—and then poked and, for the first time, pepper-sprayed the marchers. Significantly, some of the spraying came after protesters had clearly retreated to the opposite sidewalk. (In another odd shift, there also was no federal-court-required verbal PA warning that chemical munitions would be deployed—a hallmark of every other mass police action to date.) ...
I asked a cop on my way up to the scene how many days he'd been on, and he replied wearily, "a lot." How much longer can the chief and mayor keep reacting to protests by throwing hundreds of cops at them? Sure the OT bill is concerning, but based on what I saw today, the fraying nerves of a group of professionals trained to be cool and collected is far more troubling.
For what it's worth, I strongly recommend staying on top of Theriault's coverage of Occupy Portland. He's doing the sort of day-by-day coverage that we wish we could do hear at BlueOregon.
 |
More Recent Posts | |
Albert Kaufman |
|
Guest Column |
|
Kari Chisholm |
|
Kari Chisholm |
Final pre-census estimate: Oregon's getting a sixth congressional seat |
Albert Kaufman |
Polluted by Money - How corporate cash corrupted one of the greenest states in America |
Guest Column |
|
Albert Kaufman |
Our Democrat Representatives in Action - What's on your wish list? |
Kari Chisholm |
|
Guest Column |
|
Kari Chisholm |
|
connect with blueoregon
8:07 a.m.
Nov 18, '11
Define the term ugly. The coverage by local TV stations was intense; it was almost as if it had snowed in Portland. Somehow, in their dutiful corporate reporting they did not show the secret police unit from Homeland Security. An earlier thread commented on how a seven year old civil war buff had been deprived of his walk past reminders of this conflict. I wonder if his Mom informed him of possee comitatus restrictions which make it unlawful for Federal law enforcement officers to conspire with local law enforcement. But we also learned only from Occupy members that when restrooms were closed and unions provided portapotties that the police had the manpower to remove them. And bring some of the street malcontents to the parks to further discredit those admirable folks who simply want their country back from the criminal gangs who operate from the very highest level of government, the administration.
Ugly is what will come as the Tea Baggers push for a Constitutional Amendment for a balanced budget. Austerity is all about destroying government and even in this Republic it is We the People, the ninety-nine percent. Not the one tenth of one percent who control a fabulous forty-six trillion dollars in assets. Why maintain the bridges if you hope that they collapse on the homeless? We are over populated and God has chosen the very few to take care of the problem.
12:34 p.m.
Nov 18, '11
"Ugly is what will come as the Tea Baggers push for a Constitutional Amendment for a balanced budget. Austerity is all about destroying government..."
The great progressive hero, Peter DeFazio joined the GOP teabaggers today in voting for the Balanced Budget Amendment. The next time someone here wants to worship at his progressive shrine, let's all give a big raspberry!
8:15 a.m.
Nov 18, '11
That girl getting the face full of pepper spray can handle it. You see, she's not an 84 year old woman.
8:54 a.m.
Nov 18, '11
The show of force was excessive from the get go. After three blocks of marching, with maybe 1,000 people, and no indication of violence, the riot cops came roaring in on large black SUVs and scared the crap out of everyone.
9:54 a.m.
Nov 18, '11
I hope she is OK. I hope she didn't have contacts in. Between this and the old guy getting arrested makes me concerned for my teenage daughter. She crosses downtown twice a day for school. It is very unsettling to fear for my daughters safety as much from the police as from criminal elements.
10:39 a.m.
Nov 18, '11
I don't see how confrontations with police help this movement at all. Over-reaction from police is always a possibility but it is a distraction, and simply builds antagonism for the real cause.
11:44 a.m.
Nov 18, '11
I don't understand why you don't think excessive police force is a problem in our society. It's really not a distraction. In fact, it highlights the willingness of police to come to the aid of the powerful elements in society, who in reality and letter of the law, are just common criminals who hide behind the apparent complexity of the financial system. If protesters were violent, sure, match force with force. But the force is pre-emptive.
12:12 p.m.
Nov 18, '11
Our problem is income inequality and the devastation of the middle class, and that is the goal of the 99% movement. It's not to have confrontations with police where the 99% always support the police. The police are those public employees who are under attack by the 1%. We want them on our side, because they are on our side.
10:55 a.m.
Nov 18, '11
Regarding the act itself: The videos show that the pepper-sprayed demonstraters were on Pioneer Courthouse Square, not the street, and that the police lunged forward to use the chemicals, rather than the demonstraters lunging forward to attack.
Regarding the politics: Is this the first act of Chief Reese's election campaign, a big tough-guy shout-out to the Portland Business Alliance?
Alternatively, if the chief can't control his police in a super-high-profile situation like this, how can anyone believe that he has the chops to govern the city?
Tim Bovee, Hollywood District
11:45 a.m.
Nov 18, '11
Nailed it Tim! By and large, the PDX cops have been a hella lot better than say the cops in Oakland, NYC, and Seattle, but as Huey Lewis pointed out years ago: "Sometimes bad is bad".....
12:27 p.m.
Nov 18, '11
Yeah....what Tim said. (I wish I'd have said it first. This is awesome)
3:17 p.m.
Nov 18, '11
This is intended to be a reply to Bill Ryan; the system does not allow me to respond. Mr. Ryan you must report that the Amendment did not pass. It would have been great if it did. Why? Because it exposes the Tea Baggers and their idiotic approach. By the way, do you supposrt secret police in a conspiracy with local police? You are so amusing.
4:20 p.m.
Nov 18, '11
Koin has an online poll right now where 68% of responders (don't know # of votes) say they "condone" the use of pepper spray to "subdue" protestors. KGW asks "Did police act appropriately during Occupy Portland bank protests Thursday?" and 87% of the 1300+ responders say yes.
6:58 p.m.
Nov 19, '11
Whenever progressive people make the issue all about "police brutality", they lose. As your online polls show in this snapshot. When the issue is the survival of the middle class, then progressive forces win the argument. What are we talking about here?? How are these tactics of confrontation with police and the righteous claims of victimization shaping the issue?? The polling for OWS is going down the toilet rapidly.
5:22 p.m.
Nov 18, '11
The place where I work nights is two blocks from Chapman. I'd regularly walk through the part in the middle of the night. And despite the constant media drumbeat of all the drugs and violence going on there, I never once saw a thing that made me uncomfortable or threatened. It was an inspiring, amusing, and often amazing place. Dirty? It's a park in Portland in the fall. Of course it is muddy. Trash? Ever see Waterfront Park after Rose Fest? Crime increase? Sure. When you increase the population of two parks from a dozen to hundreds, you are going to see an increase in all of society's ills.
I was talking with the guy who does the livestream for the Occupation. He pointed out (rightly) that they asked for help from City Hall and the Police on numerous times (both are literally right across the street). And did not get it. The camps were policed by volunteer activists. The police on overtime stood on the street corner and chatted the night away. In a city as progressive as Portland, I can only imagine what it must be like in cities that are actively hostile to the Occupy movements.
5:57 p.m.
Nov 18, '11
When the Occupy movement is mentioned in 50 years, that picture will be shown on news articles and in history books. It's stunningly good.
2:45 p.m.
Nov 22, '11
This movement is not going away and will continue to target those most responsible for the ongoing corporate coup that is destroying our nation. At some point police will need to decide whether to stand with the people or stand with the owners.