The Cider Riot Rules: One Person’s May Day Account

We have been hearing a lot about how Patriot Prayer’s Joey Gibson and his band of idiots thought they were going to confront antifa during a May Day event at the Cider in Portland and…well, did…poorly…for them. Here is a bit of a breakdown of what happened.

This didn’t turn out to be the day I had planned.

When I woke up on May 1st, 2019, I had no intention of doing anything other than going to work and having a few drinks with friends after. However, since I work downtown and am close to Chapman Square (site of many leftist actions in Portland), I was asked by comrades to check out the scene and see who was hanging about.

You see, instead of a leftist action, Chapman was being used as a rally point for a newer Patriot Prayer (PP) offshoot called Patriots United (PU), headed up by David Willis (you may remember him from the November video of a man in heavy armor pushing people out of the way and yelling “BOMB” at the sight of a colored smoke bomb). Since Mr. Willis has been threatening to “cleanse the streets of Portland” on twitter for some time, myself and my friend felt it was important to make sure no one was in danger. They were not. The only people to show up at Chapman besides PU, were other incognito observers and a small amount of Portland Police (PPB), who stationed themselves across the street.

video of right before police used the flash grenade. a firework is thrown and a far-right protester in body armor starts freaking out and shouting “bombs!” pic.twitter.com/fwaojRyURJ

— Mike Bivins (@itsmikebivins) November 18, 2018

We decided I would leave work and, departed for a short 5 minutes to grab my bag. When we returned, the group was gone. We thought maybe they had headed to the Waterfront, as many PP events had been staged there, but they were nowhere to be found. Eventually, we were told that the group was on a Max train headed to the next event at Holladay Park. I was relieved to not find them there when we arrived, as this event was centred on families.

Instead, Mr. Willis and his associates had posted themselves on the 12th Street overpass of I-84, which is in the direct path between the event at Holladay Park and Cider Riot. We stayed across the street and observed for a bit, but became concerned because Mr. Willis and his associate Chris Ponte kept attempted to cross the street and were yelling obscenities at passing vehicles. I’m a trained street medic, and as such, am very observant of signs of escalations in behavior. I left back to the park to bring back a couple more medics with me to continue monitoring the situation. When we returned, two comrades had crossed over onto the opposite side of the overpass and were being surrounded by not only Mr. Willis’ group, but by a large group of Proud Boys that had appeared in the interim. Myself and my friend decided to put ourselves between them just, but by the time we crossed over, PPB had forced the larger group back across the street.

Leftover, was three men with video cameras: Andy Ngo, Noah Bucchi, and Nate Millsap. Mr. Bucchi had filmed us earlier under the guise of working on a “school project.” Myself and my friend kept to ourselves and didn’t say anything beyond talking to the two comrades we had come over to protect. We decided it would be a good time to leave and go to our final destination for the evening, Cider Riot. Even though we told them we did not want nor need an escort, two PPB bike cops insisted on escorting us off the overpass.

After we got to CR, we were in great spirits. Several friends I had not seen in a long time were there, and I was expecting the arrival of a few others. It was a warm night, and honestly, it was time to kick back. A good part of the crowd had either been at the OccupyICE event earlier in the day, or the event at Holladay Park we just came from. The cider was flowing, and I was happy to relax and eat some veggie tacos. After about an hour or so of chill time, we got word that members of either Patriots Prayer or Mr. Willis’ group were on their way. As I sat, my best friend motioned to me that she just saw someone from the overpass come around from behind the taco truck. Sure enough, it was Kareem Patton, who ran off towards Davis St. We let others know we had seen him, and an announcement was made that if you felt unsafe that you had the option of going inside or leaving the premises.

Things felt more tense, like a sense of impending doom. Another announcement was made that it was advisable to those on the patio to mask up, as there were photographers on their way. Within a couple of minutes, Mr’s Ngo, Bucchi, and Millsap came down the street from 9th Ave, as they were filming/live-streaming. We now know from another videographer that was with the group, that they had used a location around 9th and Burnside as their staging area, and several members of both

Mr. Willis’ and Joey Gibson’s group had attempted to call off any confrontation. But, they were so hellbent on finding one man, they decided to go ahead. The irony of it all, is that the person they wanted to confront wasn’t even in attendance at Cider Riot that evening.

Within minutes of the video cameras passing us, word spread about the rest of the group being spotted. I want to make something very clear: we were not there to fight. Did we have masks? Absolutely. Some of us carry items for our own protection (of both self and identity) in the face of continued threats of violence and doxxing on our community. On the other hand, Mr Gibson and his group came armed with mace, batons, thick wooden dowels disguised as flagpoles, and in body armor/helmets. Their intention was clear: they came to cause mayhem for their audience.

The first couple of minutes were just hurling insults back and forth, and some shoving. But, Mr. Gibson and his associate crossed the line of violence by “demasking” and physically assaulting someone, which was then escalated by Mr. Ponte after he recklessly sprayed the crowd with mace.

We just wanted them to leave and to be left alone. Mace was sprayed back and forth, and again, there were more screaming matches. At one point, my fellow medic was attempting to attend to someone with pepper spray injuries, and she was hit with a rock on her hand. Luckily, the damage wasn’t more than some blood and bruises. We thought we had cajoled them into leaving, as they seemed to be heading towards Davis St.

For some reason, a one-on-one brawl broke out, with Mr. Gibson officiating it. This gave medics time to flush eyes and assess any other injuries. But, it didn’t last long as convicted sex offender, Matthew “Deme” Cooper, began getting into more verbal confrontations with patrons and the whole group came back. Mr. Cooper began finding things on the street to throw in the crowd and kept running back and forth erratically. A friend and comrade, who had already suffered a face full of mace, came out of the crowd and attempted to get Mr. Gibson to get his group to leave. During this exchange, she was pushed down by Mr. Cooper, and then hit over the head with a baton by a man that we now know is Ian “Papi” Kramer. She was knocked out cold, and has since been diagnosed with a cracked vertebrae.

Our comrade being hit was the straw that broke the camel’s back. We all rushed to her aid and to drive her attackers off. We chased them down Couch St towards 7th Ave. However it was decided that we should all go back to CR and not engage with them any longer.

When we returned, we all went inside because we knew the police were on their way. Except, they weren’t. They didn’t show up for over an hour, even though they had been sitting in several locations in riot gear within three blocks of CR.

To us, this was an act of terrorism. We did not want this. We did not ask for this. We came together, as a community, to celebrate a worker’s holiday and enjoy the company of our friends. We came to patronize a taproom that we enjoy, both for its products and atmosphere. We were there because we felt safe, and they tried to take that away from us. But, they failed. If anything, they brought us together more. We are stronger now than we’ve ever been. We are more resolute in our cause of antifascism, and we are more resolute that Joey Gibson and his goons have nothing but bad intentions for the Portland community. We are sick and tired of the violence and hate he has brought into our city for the last two years, but he hasn’t broken us. My fellow comrades, medics, water protectors, and other assorted leftists are here to make this community better and more accepting and tolerant. We are here to support true free speech, and the pursuit of blissful happiness. We’re here to get immigrant kids out of cages, and hold police accountable for the violence they inflict on our communities of color. We’re here to celebrate all races, genders, orientations, abilities, statuses, and everything that makes our amazing community so rich.

Joey Gibson can NEVER take that away from us. He must be held accountable for his actions and his intentions. He and those he brings with him to commit acts of violence for an audience must be stopped. This ends now. You will never win.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The owner of Cider Riot is suing Patriot Prayer leader Joey Gibson for $1 million, accusing him of negligence, trespass and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Gibson plans to be in Albany, NY this Saturday for an anti-choice rally.

#PatriotPrayer targeted a #MayDay celebration at @CiderRiot. @LCRWnews sifted through the live-streams and other footage to make this report. Some faces have been obscured in the interest of protecting privacy. pic.twitter.com/3u4sRuXodh

— Left Coast Right Watch (@LCRWnews) May 2, 2019