Comments

1
Rioting NOW isn't right. We don't know. The guy may have given them no choice.

But "people aren't waiting to hear what happened today because the police don't have any credibility," said one protester.

THAT IS THE PROBLEM, PORTLAND POLICE
2
I heard this march pass by my house and i ran out to find out what was going on. These folks are expressing a rage that so many portlanders feel. How can the cops have the shame to demand a closed-door contract negotiation with the city and kill another member of our community on the same day?

I watched this march get pepper sprayed and shoved with batons while a cop told a young girl "Just wait till I give you the beat down, doll face."

This is too much. They've crossed the line one too many times.
3
Please, let's not riot illegally, by damaging property and etc. That's simply lowering ourselves to the level of the ppd. Let us remain peaceful. Factual words speak louder than illegal behaviors, that give the officers reasons to fight back. Thanks,
Chris Shelamer-Terry
4
The real damaging issue is how Portland liberals let their neighbors be brutalized by a 700 member gang called the Portland Police Association. Thank god people are starting to wake up. Criminalize the murdering cops not the local folks that fight back or you're doing the PPA's job for them.
5
II am not part of the police association, I'm angry too, however,we aren't gong to get anywhere by rioting by illegal means, by being destructive of property that does belong to us, crashing in business property, etc. It wasn't their fault. Argue peacefully. Find facts about what happened, and there are many people that protest successfully at City Hall that have put pressure on the ppd,the commissioner, and Same Adams for change, and we will continue. Join the Amazon and Support change thisway
. We don't need more crime! Thanks,
Chris Shelamer-Terry
6
Why is no information coming out? Easy the union is giving this cop time to lawyer up, they don't want any info to come out before the lawyer's prepared spin statement.
7
"Giving this cop time to lawyer up?" Are we really at the point where we don't believe that police should have constitutional rights? If I were a suspect in a killing, and that's the way police are treated, I'd certainly want to speak to a lawyer before waiving my rights under the Fifth Amendment.
8
That insurance company window deserved it!

This may be a case of police malfeasance, and it may not, but to "riot" about this before you know ANY real facts is to just make oneself look a fool.
9
I can understand the anger, even though I think it's a little early for this kind of action, given how much we know. What I don't understand is how they think the vandalism furthers their cause. These businesses had nothing to do with the police, this shooting, or any other one that we know of. It's not like they were busting up police cars.

I thought the whole point was to protest violence against those that don't deserve it.

Seems like a pot/kettle situation to me.
10
'The cops shot someone! We're rioting!'

That's a good way to get shoot.
11
I can understand the outrage but as Portlanders I would've thought we're all above rioting and hurting local businesses. That's just hateful and quite frankly, retarded. You're only going to justify the cops' continuing brutality by doing such deeds.

The cops: "See? They're an angry mob! We've got to keep them at bay!"

Ugh. Come on, Portland. We can do better than this.

I'm just as pissed as the rest of you, but believe me, rioting isn't going to do a damned bit of good.
12
At least it was a Starbucks and not Heart!
13
I heard these folks chanting by my place. Then I checked twitter to get the lowdown, and couldn't find any tidbits of info. Then I heard cop sirens heading east on burnside for about 20 minutes straight. Sounded like a lot of cops.

There's a history behind that insurance building (with the smashed window); a history of anarchists who can't read thinking it's a rundown and totally evil bank, and so they paste up signs and stuff that go on and on about how we shouldn't be supporting this bank, etc. It's not a bank anymore, dudes! It's just a little insurance company with an ATM outside.
14
Take that Wells Fargo! Wells Fargo will certainly think twice before they shoot someone at the arboretum again! Take that Starbucks! No more brutality from you!

A freaking retard circus. Why don't we wait to find out what's happened? It hasn't even been 24 hours yet.

"...arrived just as a group of about a half dozen people masked with bandanas were walking away from the station"

We all know who these assclowns are. Worked up kids playing a role. I'd pepper spray them too. Let's not turn them into civil rights heroes.
15
Sad to see all of this in Portland.
16
SPRING BREEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAK! WOOOOOO!
17
If this turns out like the Campbell shooting, I'm thinking Vortex 2.
18
Disorganized, reactive violence? With callous disinterest in what the on-the-ground facts are?!

Isn’t that the whole reason everyone’s so pissed at the cops?

Fighting fire with fire makes for a good slogan. But if that’s your way, I wouldn’t trust you to douse my burning house… or blow out your own birthday cake, for that matter.
19
All discussion of tactics or approach aside, I think these people are right to be angry and to act on it. It may suck for a few business owners or workers to clean up, but think about the message it sends to the police and to the city: When cops shoot people, THE PEOPLE GET ANGRY. There are struggles for greater police accountability up and down the West Coast right now. Police power has grown in later years--they get huge budgets & they build a police union that bullies the city. They get fancier weapons (they say to prevent deaths) and they use them to readily assault people--no fewer deaths.

Marches like this one may add productively to the dialogue & bolster the movement for public oversight
20
@ Some Body -

What good did the Los Angeles riots produce after the Rodney King debacle?

Rioting gets us nowhere. At least, nowhere good.
21
1. Wells Fargo and Starbucks aren't "local" businesses;
2. sometimes property destruction is a way to get attention to injustice;

3. There are plenty of social workers, medical workers, and advocates of many stripes in this city who deal with armed and dangerous people as part of their job and who don't get guns and still manage to deescalate situations without anyone getting killed. The cops DON'T need guns. The cops CHOOSE to escalate situations into bigger problems until things DO get Dangerous. TAKE THEIR GUNS AWAY!!
22
you captioned picture of the copsters tell it ALL (why they shoot to kill in any confrontation) ... they're all so out-of-shape and fat, that they couldn't possible out run anyone or engage in less lethal confrontations, so it seems their only options--as they see it--is to shoot and hope they hit the target as they run backwards (that's why there is always a fuselage of bullets fired)
23
@ Bad Robot - Something tells me you've never taken pictures of yourself wearing a class-III protective vest. Not terribly flattering.
24
take a closer look there dude...don't seems as these guys have anything behind their shirts other than flab. are protective vests made of flab now?
25
Every single officer wears protective vests at every single moment they are on duty. It's a requirement, Bad Robot.
26
Sorry Polis, but the police are public servants. On duty you should always be immediately accountable. YOU should get time to talk to a lawyer, so that your story is straight, for the police. They've got too much power, we forget their real bosses are the tax payers, and it's unfortunate that they can never actually have a voice without costing some business owners a few dollars.
27
Yea.......it's about time we got rid of all the cops. Time to give the city back to those with the clubs to take over and make the rest of you safe and protected. Portland would be a lot better with no laws or cops.
28
You know, if Matt Davis wasn't on vacation, he would have covered this story in his usual ignorant, inflammatory, and half-cocked manner. This riot might have been worse if he'd been in town yesterday.
29
It's just so hard to imagine why somebody needs to be shot dead. There has to be some other way than ending a person's life. How many police shootings have there been now? None of them were necessary. Of course people are outraged. How should they express it?
30
@Aargh - That's a clear example of wishful thinking. "Wouldn't it be nice if no one ever died, or committed a crime?" Some of these shootings were definitely necessary.
31
Harsh, that is my favorite ATM. I use it all the time.
32
Screw that ATM, cheaper just to use Beulahlands or Chopsticks. 3 bucks is criminal. Who ever smashed that ATM should be given the key to the city.
33
Chris Shelamer-Terry: If things can be solved by legal "rioting" great. But many times, when things get serious - illegal, possibly, - that's when things change.
And also, kudos to Austin Cook's comment.

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