Portland Protests: Competing Rallies Draw Hundreds; Arrests Made

PORTLAND, OR — More than 1,000 people gathered in downtown Portland on Sunday as at least five different groups held a series of protests and counter-protests, further dividing a city whose emotions were already raw from a hate crime that turned into a double murder over Memorial Day weekend. Fourteen people were arrested Sunday.

In Terry Schrunk Plaza were pro-Trump groups, mostly, representing American Patriot The III%, Patriot Prayer and others. Across the street to the north were mostly Antifa (anti-fascist) counter-protesters and masked, so-called anarchists, wearing all black. To the east of the plaza was a Portland labor coalition called Portland Labor Against Fascists. To the west was Portland Peacekeepers and others unaffiliated with any particular group.

Standing between them all, the Portland Police, Department of Homeland Security and Oregon State Police agencies established riot lines around the entire plaza, cordoning off the sidewalks and crosswalks with yellow "crime scene" tape in an effort to maintain peace and keep the individual groups separated.

It was a setup that made for a tense Sunday in Portland.

People from all sides were shouting, chanting and at times screaming at each other from across Southwest Third and Fourth avenues and Southwest Madison Street.

The groups began gathering before 10 a.m. June 4. By 2 p.m., the official start time for the permitted (though controversial) Patriot Prayer Rally, Shrunk Plaza was surrounded by several hundred people. Inside the plaza, pro-Trump supporters numbered in the hundreds as rally organizer Joey Gibson spoke passionately about the need for love and prayer to combat corruption and hate in government, communities and the media — at times screaming and shouting himself.

And though Gibson said the Patriot Prayer Rally wasn't intended to be a conservative or pro-Trump rally at its core, he was contradicted by a large number of people wearing Make America Great Again hats and "Trump-Pence" shirts.

Largely advertised as a free speech rally, Patriot Prayer representatives said there would be no tolerance for racism or hate speech from within Schrunk Plaza.

The anti-violence message apparently did not mean a lot to a group of Antifa protesters gathered at Chapman Square. They started throwing objects, lighting at least two fires, and accused all within Schrunk Plaza of being racists and fascists. It also did not stop some within Schrunk Plaza from hurling racial epithets at the surrounding rally protesters.

While several news outlets had warned of the potential for violence based on the many threats made prior to the event, for much of the day things never escalated beyond some shouting back and forth. Days before the event, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler asked both rally organizers and the federal government to cancel the event and rescind the permit, respectively.

The rally event, Wheeler said in a statement, posed a threat to public safety. However, Wheeler found both requests rejected out of hand.

Wheeler's request came on the heels of the Memorial Day weekend TriMet murders, which saw known nationalist Jeremy Christian brutally stab to death two men and severely injure another after the men came to the defense of two teens Christian was berating with racial and derogatory comments while aboard a TriMet train.

Killed in the incident were Ricky Best, a 53-year-old Army veteran and Portland city employee, and Taliesin Myrddin Namkai-Meche, a 23-year-old who'd recently graduated from college. Micah Fletcher, a 21-year-old Portlander poet, survived a grievous wound to his neck.

"Portland has a proud history of protest," Wheeler's statement read. "I am a firm supporter of the First Amendment, no matter the views expressed. I believe we had a case to make about the threats to public safety posed by this rally at this place and at this time. My job is to protect the safety of everyone... protesters, counter-protesters, and bystanders alike.

"I urge everyone participating to reject violence," the statement continued. "Our city has seen enough."

Around 3 p.m., Antifa protesters in Chapman Square began throwing rocks, bricks, marbles, tampons and an "unknown, foul-smelling liquid," according to police. They were subsequently forced out of the square by police, who used rubber bullets and tear gas to move the crowd.

The rally itself came to an end around 4:30 p.m., after Gibson spent some time accusing Willamette Week of inciting all the racial aggression and division within the city.

Shortly before 9 p.m., the Portland Police Bureau announced the following people had been arrested at the rally event:

• Brooks Christopher Klehr, 19, was arrested on charges of disorderly conduct and carrying a concealed weapon;
• Derek Wayne Christensen, 45, was arrested on a charge of carrying a concealed weapon;
• Kellan C. McDonald, 34, was arrested on a charge of interfering with a peace officer;
• Henry James Best, 22, was arrested on a charge of disorderly conduct. Best was also given a federal criminal citation;
• Kim Michael Sorgente, 46, was arrested on a charge of disorderly conduct;
• Mark Anthony Richardson, 31, was arrested on a charge of disorderly conduct. Richardson was also given a federal criminal citation;
• Andrew Ellott McLoughlin, 20, was arrested on charges of disorderly conduct and harassment;
• Jordyn Suzanna Hidgon-Luckey, 30, was arrested on a charge of disorderly conduct;
• Kelly Marshall Baur, 30, was arrested on charges of interfering with a peace officer, harassment and disorderly conduct;
• Forrest Gabriel Ramona Smith, 21, was arrested on a charge of disorderly conduct;
• Jeremy Daniel Ibarra, 35, was arrested on a charge of disorderly conduct.

In addition, three others were given federal criminal citations by Federal Protective Service officers and released:

• Alex Anthony Fitzgibbon, 26;
• Timothy Francis Ledwith, 23;
• Corey David McGee, 35.