It appears there’s a new May Day tradition in Portland’s Woodstock neighborhood: Vandalizing banks.
Around five men dressed in hoodies and bandanas shattered the windows of four southeast banks around 4:30 am today, according to the Portland Police Bureau (PPB). Three of the banks, located between 45th and 47th streets on SE Woodstock Boulevard, were the same ones banged up on May 1, 2017.
PPB says its “highly likely” today’s early morning bank vandalism is linked to last year’s incident.
“Preliminary information indicates all three incidents appear to be related to one another,” according to a PPB media statement. “But it has not been determined who was responsible for that attack or if it’s directly connected to this morning’s incidents.”
The banks hit: Chase Bank on SE Woodstock and 47th, Keybank on SE Woodstock and 46th, US Bank on SE Woodstock and 47th, and another US Bank on SE Cesár E. Chavez near SE Salmon. The fourth bank’s damage was reported later in the morning.
While technically falling on May 2, this morning’s vandalism is the bookend to a largely drama-free May Day in Portland. May 1 began with someone dumping white paint on a number of PPB patrol cars, but the rest of the day’s May Day celebrations were decidedly low-key—a contrast to the street bonfires and riot police we saw at last year’s downtown rally.
Better late then never, Portland anarchists.
