Downtown for another night of #BLM protests in beautiful Portland Oregon. Since @riotribs is not on the menu tonight (you can check their feed for why) it’s gyro o’clock. The cops haven’t gassed these food carts since the 4th of July!#PortlandStrong 
The caulk abides. This stuff is spray foam, used to disperse pepper ball rounds.
The crowd is significantly smaller then Saturday, but I am told that fed RAD has already been talking to people
The #WallOfVets is here in white t-shirts.
And the #wallofmomsportland is here in yellow. And helmets. We just heard moms checking in with the crowd: “does everyone who’s staying have goggles and respirators?”
After putting on masks and helmets the moms formed ranks and to chants of”Black Lives Matter!” Marches to the courthouse
Fire at the Elk.
The banging on the fence is building up a rhythm. The balloons help to clue the crow in to wind direction, for when tear gas gets deployed
Current winds: south-southeast
The concrete barricades erected in front of the fence make a great ledge for sitting and standing on which the crowd is using to its fullest capacity
Folks spot some shadowy figures moving on the ledge up on the wall of the courthouse, and target them with flashlights. “We know you’re there!”
And we have firecrackers. Accompanied by cries of “leave Portland!” And “black lives matter!”
And “I will survive” is the current jam up at the fence.
Fire at the elk is out, but now there is one behind the fence
Interesting that it took the feds about a week to figure out that having concrete barriers inside the fence provided cover for people to angle-grind through the bases of fence posts from the outside.
Fed-RAD update: Fed-RAD still does not want people to mess with the fence.
Balloon update: wind now appears to be north-northwest.
Trash fire update: all those booms are still just old rattle cans so far.
The time is now 11:26
Balloon update: wind now appears to be north-northwest.
Trash fire update: all those booms are still just old rattle cans so far.
The time is now 11:26
Just walked to the north end of the block and the wind shifted south again. Is it possible that all the wind in downtown is blowing directly at the front of the federal courthouse?
Hole the crowd is not enormous, it it impressive that almost all of the protesters understand what type of violence they might face and have helmets, gas masks, respirators and goggles
Feds out
The trash fire behind the fence is out
The feds came out with a shield wall. According to PPB, this indicates that they intend to fight rather than disperse.
Bunch a pepper balls and tear gas, so checks out.
Bunch a pepper balls and tear gas, so checks out.
And if the wind wasn’t blowing at the courthouse entrance before, definitely is now that the leafblowers are going. Feds back inside.
Fed-RAD says “if you continue to throw rocks, fireworks and other hard objects at officers, this will be declared an unlawful assembly”
Crowd points out that there are no officers outside. Except for the ones on the roof. The crowd also says “fuck you roof cops.”
It’s a chant
Crowd points out that there are no officers outside. Except for the ones on the roof. The crowd also says “fuck you roof cops.”
It’s a chant
Also: seen a few fireworks, and a few bottles. But i keep hearing about rocks, and I know they wouldn’t catch the light like a water bottle or firecrackers, but idk, still haven’t seen any tonight.
Someone just came through the crowd offering by-donation “riot roses, stolen fresh from federal property”
I’m not aware of any federal rose-gardening operations or florists in portland, so this claim is dubious. But roses are nice.
I’m not aware of any federal rose-gardening operations or florists in portland, so this claim is dubious. But roses are nice.
Well that was a loud kaboom. Seemingly also trash-fire related.
The feds emerged in a cloud of gas so thick it seemed designed to make sure that they were operating invisibly
A line of moms and vets holds strong in the cloud, which is rapidly dispersed by leaf blowers.
A lot more gas. Mostly instantaneous blast-cs combo munitions.
They go back in for a few minutes but come back out, again with a big cloud that the leaf blowers hold back more this time
After multiple gassing, Chumbawamba is on the stereo. Feels appropriate.
fed-RAD now says this is an unlawful assembly and “peaceful protesters” must disperse to the north and west.
Sorta awkward if they gassed any of those peaceful protesters any of the other times.
fed-RAD now says this is an unlawful assembly and “peaceful protesters” must disperse to the north and west.
Sorta awkward if they gassed any of those peaceful protesters any of the other times.
Protester on a megaphone: “if you put down the paintball guns I’ll give you a ride to the airport”
Almost one in the morning and there are still maybe 300 people here
“Feds coming in from the south!”
The push
Reloading before the withdrawal. Commanding officers were moving down the line immediately beforehand, indicating where the line should withdraw to. Very deliberate on their part.
So I could hear the feds discussing how they were going to withdraw before they left. The two things from their withdrawal are:
1. They are not getting pushed
2. No one is threatening them, but they unload a couple thousand dollars worth of poison onto the street
1. They are not getting pushed
2. No one is threatening them, but they unload a couple thousand dollars worth of poison onto the street
Some of the #WallofMoms stayed through the whole clearing and gassing of the parks refusing to move
Aaand that’s gonna be it for the night folks.
Got dinged in the shin by an exploding flash grenade, and then i didn’t even get it as a souvenir. Lots of 40mm shells dropped on salmon, which means the feds were reloading as they withdrew. And a lot of big Saf-Smoke grenades.
