Yesterday, in their continued admitted attempts to "troll the left," Patriot Prayer held another of their series of rallies on the waterfront and were met by hundreds of Portlanders dedicated to stopping fascism in its tracks.

The rally/counter protest started and ended in a similar fashion to previous Patriot Prayer events: Leader Joey Gibson makes veiled threats that violence will occur; Portlanders take Gibson at his word and and vow to show up in huge numbers; Portland police dons their riot gear in response; the two groups are separated and scream at each other for three to four hours; the police say that someone allegedly throws something, which the cops use as an excuse to employ overly rough crowd control tactics on counter protesters, making them appear to be protecting the fascists; as the cops chase (and injure) counter protesters, it frees up the fascists to go on the attack; people (usually on our side) are injured; Patriot Prayer celebrates the success of their trolling, and get on their busses and leave, knowing they've secured lots of national press which they hope will embolden more fascists.

For them, it's a formula that has worked before, worked yesterday, and will undoubtedly work in the future. Next stop for them is Seattle on August 18, where they will surely employ similar tactics, and then back to Portland in the not-too-distant future. In short, rinse and repeat.

On the upside, the Mercury Photography Action Force (Kathleen Marie, Kenton Waltz, and Patrick Bunch) were in full effect yesterday and came back with great photos. Check them out!