When Ted Wheeler ran for mayor, he pledged to âactively demilitarize the police force.â 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 Donât Shoot Portland-organized âNot My Presidentâs Dayâ 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.
âTake off your riot gear, I donât see no riot here,â 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 theyâd 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
â doug brown (@dougbrown8) February 20, 2017
âI asked the police if I was just going to get a ticket and let go,â Carlson told the Mercury after his release from jail Monday evening. âHe said âNo, because this keeps happening.ââ
More officers tackled, dragged, zip-tied, and arrested others on the side of the street and on the sidewalk.
Margaret âPeggyâ Zebroski, 66, whoâd been in the street but was on the sidewalk when riot cops came in, had her nose bloodied and wrist injured when police tackled her. She tells the Mercury she was arrested while trying to shield a 72-year-old friend of hers (âan old lady with a bum kneeâ) from the swarming officers.
âThe cops were hurting her!â she said. âI went from where I was and grabbed her and said âBeverly, Beverly, Beverlyââthey let go of her and immediately threw me in the street.â
Shortly after the first sweep, the armor-clad police swept through the crowd again, arresting more demonstrators.
Here is second encounter. Police roughing up people on sidewalk, pepper spraying one in face. #notmypresidentsday pic.twitter.com/N08DFzKca1
â doug brown (@dougbrown8) February 20, 2017
One manâwho later told police his name was Quanice Hayes, the 17-year-old killed by a Portland police officer on February 9âwas taken to the ground by cops and pepper sprayed in the face while his arms were pinned behind his back. He had been standing one step off the curb.
Pics I took earlier: On sidewalk, Portland police rough up this #notmypresidentsday protester, pepper spray to face while arms pinned back pic.twitter.com/vwjyZ01t0F
â doug brown (@dougbrown8) February 20, 2017
A few blocks away, officers shoved 33-year-old Rebecca Smith White down on the sidewalk and then shot âpepper ballsâ at her as the group marched from the federal building.
Portland riot cops make more rough arrests around the corner, shot âpepper ballsâ at people. #Notmypresidentsday pic.twitter.com/hQrhRf11wu
â doug brown (@dougbrown8) February 20, 2017
Meanwhile, a separate demonstration and march, the PPB was quick to point out, received a permitâwhich a number of activists have likened to an âextortion feeâ for constitutionally protected protests. That march proceeded without incident.
âWe would much prefer things were different,â PPB spokesperson Sgt. Pete Simpson told the Oregonian. âBut weâre sort of forced to be there now because of the aggressive nature of the âWeâre going to show up, weâre going to block streets, weâre going to shut the city downâ attitude.â
But the notably forceful response to Mondayâs small protest seems likely to exacerbate notions that PPB has been brutish in its dealings with protests.
âToday, Portland Police Bureau policy led to violence against peaceful protesters including young kids and retired public employees,â the ACLU of Oregon said in a statement on Monday addressed to Wheeler, the cityâs police commissioner. The civil rights group has called recent heavy-handed PPB crackdowns on protests âwrong and illegalâ and is advocating changes to the bureauâs crowd control policy to be in line with the constitution.
âMost of these people were gathered on public property on the sidewalk when they were shoved down and arrested,â the ACLU continued. âOn. The. Sidewalk. It was shameful.â
The organization has demanded that the PPB âend the violence against protesters. Stop the unnecessary use of crowd control weapons. Stop sending officers in riot gear to peaceful protests. Stop arresting organizers.â
Wheeler appears to be listening. In a Tuesday statement, the mayor said heâd asked police brass to âhelp create a more positive space for expression and tactics that de-escalate tension.â
The issue of permits is a major hang-up for local activists who donât want to pay money for what they say are constitutionally protected demonstrations, including being on the streets.
Portlandâs Resistance leader Gregory McKelvey, who was not at Mondayâs protests but has led a number of actions that have drawn riot cops, filed a facetious permit request with the city on Monday for a march from downtown to Wheelerâs Southwest Portland home.
âRepeatedly, we are told that if we request a permit we will not be subjected to gas, pepper spray, and incredible amounts of violence,â the permit application says. âThus, we are requesting a permit in the hopes that this will prevent innocent, peaceful people from being beaten in the streets.â
*** All photographs by Doug Brown