Portland Protests: Mayor Wheeler Reviewing Police Action

Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler says that while generally satisfied with the response of the police bureau to two days of protests last week, he will review post-action reports. While around 100,000 people filled the streets on Saturday as part of a Women's March on Portland, it was generally peaceful - there were no arrests and the only complaint received by the city was that the police were too nice to protesters.

The night before was different.

Hours after Donald Trump was arrested, protesters - not nearly as many as would show up Saturday - were in the streets and some turned violent, forcing a confrontation with police. There were five arrests.

"Unfortunately, in any gathering of this size there is always the potential that some will have different goals – to incite conflict and confrontation," Wheeler said on Monday. "No one likes to see the use of crowd control devices. I certainly don’t."

Wheeler said that he wants to make sure that the use of the devices was appropriate.

"Early indications are that their use on Friday night was appropriate," he said. "I will of course review post-action reports to make sure that was the case."

Wheeler said he thinks the difference between the two rallies was that the organizers of Saturday's worked with city officials to make sure things went smoothly.

"Generally speaking, the higher the degree of coordination between the city and event organizers, the smoother the event," Wheeler said.

He added that if you were present at any of these events and wish to file a complaint or a commendation relating to sworn officers of the Portland Police Bureau, please contact the city’s Independent Police Review Division.

Photo Colin Miner