Riot Ribs in its full glory. Mathieu Lewis-Rolland Riot Ribs is dead. Long live Riot Ribs. Today, at five in the morning, Portland Police Bureau (PPB) gave people in Chapman Square Park and Lownsdale Square Park—many of whom were sleeping in tents—a ten-minute warning to leave before they began arresting them. Protesters, volunteers, and homeless […]
Cops
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DHS Director Decries “Violent Anarchists” Taking Over Portland
A federal officer holding a canister of tear gas the evening of July 11. Mathieu Lewis-Rolland The head of the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the agency overseeing federal officers’ response to protests in Portland, chastised local officials Thursday for the city’s handling of nightly demonstrations. In an inflammatory statement riddled with inaccuracies and […]
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Hall Monitor: Crossing the Line
Federal officers stand in downtown Portland the night of July 11. Mathieu Lewis-Rolland Hall Monitor is a regular column on issues related to Portland City Hall and its influence on the community it serves. ___ In his past three years in City Hall, Mayor Ted Wheeler has proudly positioned himself as a leader in the […]
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For Portland Police, Indiscriminate Use of Tear Gas During Protests Is Unavoidable
Mathieu Lewis-Rolland Night after night, Portlanders participating in demonstrations against law enforcement have been met with stinging clouds of tear gas. This lingering gas forces people to run blindly down city streets, pulling off their face mask to wipe tears and snot from their face, bending the rules of the COVID-19 pandemic to relieve pain. […]
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Portland Police Union President Calls on Officials to “Defend Portland”
A PPB officer facing a crowd the evening of July 4, 2020. Mathieu Lewis-Rolland The president of the Portland Police Association (PPA), Portland’s union representing rank-and-file officers, is condemning local officials for defending the rights of protesters who participate in Portland’s nightly demonstrations. “These rioters come out nightly armed with weapons and a plan to […]
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Tear Gas Clouds Fourth of July Demonstrations in Portland
Federal officers on the corner of SW Salmon and 4th, after using tear gas to disperse protesters early Sunday morning. Alex Zielinski Instead of its annual fireworks show over the Waterfront Blues Festival, Portland’s Fourth of July ended with billowing trash fires set by protesters and plumes of tear gas shot from federal officers dressed […]
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What Was Accomplished During Oregon’s Whirlwind Special Legislative Session?
4kodiak / Getty Images Blink and you may have missed it: It took less than 72 hours for the Oregon Legislature to begin and end its special legislative session last week. The whirlwind session was initially planned to address the immediate economic fallout from COVID-19. That focus was expanded, however, after the killing of George […]
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Don’t Shoot PDX Condemns Inaction by City Leaders After Police Tear Gas Protesters
Layers of tear gas rising from the streets of Portland in early June. Alex Zielinski Legal scrutiny is growing against the City of Portland over its officers’ excessive use of force against protesters. Late Tuesday afternoon, lawyers representing Don’t Shoot PDX urged a judge to find the City of Portland in contempt of court for […]
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Council Votes to Extend Current Police Union Contract Due to COVID-19 Delays
Demonstrators during 2016’s PPA negotiations. DIRK VANDERHART Portland City Council has voted to extend its current contract with the Portland Police Association (PPA)—the city’s rank-and-file police union—by one year. The current contract, approved in 2016 was set to expire June 30. But, due to COVID-19’s physical distancing restrictions, the city and PPA’s bargaining teams were […]
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Gov. Brown Commutes Prison Sentences for 57 Oregonians Vulnerable to COVID-19
TXKING/GETTY IMAGES Gov. Kate Brown has decided to truncate the prison sentences of 57 Oregonians especially vulnerable to COVID-19—nearly three months after COVID-19 was first detected in an Oregon prison. Incarcerated adults must meet a stringent list of requirements to qualify for early release, even in the midst of a global pandemic. According to a […]
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Police Reform Advocates Worry a Police Accountability Bill Doesn’t Go Far Enough
DOUG BROWN This week, Oregon lawmakers will gather at the state capitol (and virtually) to hash out a number of law enforcement reform bills intended to spur a marked transformation in how police departments operate across the state. One bill proposed during this special session has received particular attention for its promising goal: Making it […]
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“Burn the Town Down”: Portland’s 1967 Race Riot and Our City’s Current Relationship with People of Color
Portland police chase a Black protester during the 1967 Irving Park riot. OREGON HISTORICAL SOCIETY NO. BB005805 [The following is a reprint of a 2017 Mercury feature by the great Santi Elijah Holley that aptly compares the striking similarities between the Portland race riots of the late ’60s with the political climate of 2017—and especially […]