Portland Prevails! Federal Troops Will Begin to Pull Out of City

It will always be curious how many those who say we should all defend the rights of Nazis and Fascists were not around to defend those rights as the federal government cracked down on ours, but no matter. We didn’t need them to. We love you, Portland!

PORTLAND, OR. – After weeks of clashes with protesters in the streets, a deal has been reached between the Trump Administration and Oregon officials that will have federal officers begin leaving the city on Thursday, according to news reports.

“After discussions with the Vice President and administration officials this week, the federal government has agreed to my demand and will withdraw these officers from Portland,” Oregon Gov. Kate Brown said in a statement Wednesday, noting State Police will guard against vandalism of the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse alongside the Federal Protective Service. “They will also clean up the Courthouse, removing the graffiti.”

After my discussions with VP Pence and others, the federal government has agreed to withdraw federal officers from Portland. They have acted as an occupying force & brought violence. Starting tomorrow, all Customs and Border Protection & ICE officers will leave downtown Portland.

— Governor Kate Brown (@OregonGovBrown) July 29, 2020

The deal will end an occupation in the city by federal officials that began in early July when Donald Trump issued an executive order that was supposed to protect U.S. monuments and buildings from protests and vandalism. The action only served to escalate those protests that started in the wake of the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota but were waning in the city at the time. The latest round of protests were fueled particularly after reports and videos posted online showed unidentifiable camouflage-clad officers forced protesters into unmarked vehicles. For the next several weeks, officers responded to the protests with tear gas, impact rounds, flash bangs and batons on not just against peaceful protesters but reporters as well, and it only served to swell even further the opposition to their presence. That opposition went all the way to Gov. Brown’s office, who called the occupation “political theater” from Trump, and the Portland Police Bureau was banned from cooperating with federal law enforcement officers under policies unanimously passed by City Council.

On Sunday, Comedian John Oliver still took particular issue on his HBO television program with Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler for creating the atmosphere that has seen such unrest in the city for the past three years when he allowed neo-fascist groups to attack counter-protesters during their rallies. “The local police force—under the leadership of Ted Wheeler, incidentally—have routinely overreacted,” says Oliver, “using things like tear gas to the point where Wheeler actually became known as Tear Gas Teddy, which I guarantee you is set to be this Christmas’ worst-selling toy.” He then produced a graphic of a plush bear with a gas mask seemingly fused to its face, and a canister of Mace in one of its paws as he continued by also showing a picture that the Portland Police Bureau released of items thrown at them. “They have justified dangerous crowd control tactics by releasing photos like this, claiming they’ve been attacked with, among other things, a can of White Claw and a half-eaten apple, which is less a threatening display of weaponry and more of a summoning circle for ghosts who died on day three of Burning Man.”

Several protesters have been seriously injured, among them a Navy veteran attempting to tell the officers that would ultimately break his hand to remember their oaths, and another who was shot with an impact weapon that fractured his skull. Meanwhile, the White House reported last week that three federal officers were permanently blinded by laser pointers.

Far right propagandists also found themselves suffering injuries reportedly by the protesters they have been accused of antagonizing. On Friday, Andrew Duncomb, 25 of Seminole, Oklahoma who is known as a Black neo-Confederate activists who has been a part of rallies supporting the Confederacy, even those that also saw White supremacists in attendance and is prominent on social networks, was reportedly stabbed while covering the protests in the city, allegedly by a person he accosted under the notion that he was following him and his friend and not long after he reportedly pepper sprayed a group of protesters. Three hours earlier, Duncomb pepper sprayed a group of protesters who he claimed were threatening a street preacher but remained with the protests even with the protesters attempting to keep him apart from them. When he and his associate though one of them was following them, they walked out of the area and as his friend was recording video, Duncomb came behind the person and put his arm around his neck, prompting that person to stab him. Duncomb was still recovering from Friday’s incident where he said he was stabbed with a 7-inch blade. Protest medics immediately tended to him while others were able to detain the alleged assailant.

Police arrested 43-year-old Blake D. Hampe, who  charged with assault II and booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center. In 2008 Hampe was convicted on charges of possession of child pornography in Maine and sentenced to just over three years in prison. Hampe was not known to anyone on the ground in Portland and according to other protesters was not a part of any antifascist groups there.

Despite the failure of Portland, Trump still plans to deploy federal officers to Cleveland, Detroit and Milwaukee, but the mayors of Portland, Chicago, Seattle, Albuquerque, New Mexico; Kansas City, Missouri; and Washington, D.C. have written a letter to the leaders of both parties in the Senate and House of Representatives urging Congress to block such deployments.

Notice she says downtown Portland – not Portland #DefendPDX https://t.co/jLUzY6T2d1

— leftist (@luistheleftist) July 29, 2020