Thread by @LauraJedeed

Hi there, I just got back from the District Courthouse, where @JuniperLSimonis documented the uncomfortable number of spent toxic crowd control munitions lying around behind the fence

Some background:

The District Courthouse fence, erected during the Fed War in July, is coming down

A chunk of the concrete barricades supporting the fence have been removed

Last night, Dr. Simonis and others (including @AlissaAzar) noticed a rather prodigious number of...this

You may notice that the munitions are corroded

That, Dr Simonis explains, is because the chemicals still within and around the munitions have continued to react. As water flows over the munitions--as it has done all winter--the chlorates react with the metal

"Wait a minute," you might be thinking. "Does that mean that all winter, water has been running over these munitions and washing the chemical reagents and products direct into the storm drains and into the river?"

Yep!

There's a silver lining to the environmental damage caused by chenically-poisoned runoff; when construction crews moved the barricades they probably stirred up a smaller amount of toxic chemicals then they otherwise would have

Good news for the bicyclists who ride past the fence

(also good news for the courthouse employees who smoke in front of the District Courthouse, though I would recommend maybe NOT smoking out here)

Dr. Simonis and others collected 5 or 6 munitions last night, but couldn't get to the ones behind the fence

So they called BES

When BES didn't respond, Dr Simonis tagged them in a tweet

Then they showed up and took pictures and left

While Dr. Simonis showed me the munitions behind the fence, they found several pieces of "scat"--or "overshot" as the cops call it--on the street side of the fence

These are the cardboard or metal barriers between reagents that keep them separate until the munition detonates

As dire as this all is, it gets worse. A lot of the concrete barricades are still in place

As we walked, we saw munitions visibly beneath them. Looks like the construction crew just plunked 'em down. No effort by the feds to clean up their toxic mess

We also found the top section of a triple chaser CS gas munition wedged beneath a different barricade. They tried to extract it but it's just wedged in there too good

So I guess it'll stay there

With water running over it

Until someone decides to do something about it

We also spotted the top of a triple chaser grenade wedged under a different barrier. Dr Simonis attempted to extract it but we couldn't quite get it out

So I guess it'll just stay there

Washed over by rain

Until someone decides to do something about it

Who knows how much other crap is wedged under these barricades

@tedwheeler, @BESPortland, someone, anyone: maybe we should do something about this?

Epilogue: my phone finally decided to upload this video: