When Ted Wheeler ran for mayor, he pledged to “actively demilitarize the police force.” Instead, the almost two months since Wheeler took office have coincided with some of the strongest uses of police force in recent memory.
That was driven home again Monday, February 20, when the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) came down hard on a relatively small group of anti-Donald Trump protesters downtown. The crackdown set the stage for yet another battle with activists and civil rights groups saying their actions are protected by the First Amendment.
The PPB arrested 13 people on Monday, less than an hour after the Don’t Shoot Portland-organized “Not My President’s Day” protest began outside the federal building on the corner of SW 3rd and Madison. It was precisely a month after the PPB suppressed a downtown Inauguration Day protest with flash-bang grenades, less-lethal rounds, and tear gas aimed at nonviolent protesters standing in the street.
“Take off your riot gear, I don’t see no riot here,” yelled 31-year-old David Carlson, one of a handful of protesters still lingering in the road on Monday when riot cops stormed in.
Police had warned the group they’d be arrested for standing in the street, and subsequently shepherded demonstrators to the sidewalk. Most of them were still there when a police SUV with about a dozen riot gear-clad police hanging from the side pulled up behind Carlson. Several cops pounced on him, throwing him to the ground, putting their knees on his back as he was face-down in the street.
Portland riot cops just tossed people to the ground. Nonviolent protesters arrested #notmypresidentsday pic.twitter.com/kA8mTJYcqj
— doug brown (@dougbrown8) February 20, 2017