Portland, like cities across the nation, has been gripped nightly by thousands of protesters marching and chanting in outrage over the death of George Floyd.
The dramatic protests, which marked their 10th night in Portland Saturday, have continued to shut down the city’s downtown core. Activists have vowed to keep showing up until massive reforms to address police violence and long-standing racism are made.
Some protesters and observers have likened today’s widespread calls for change to the Civil Rights Movement, which in the 1950s and 1960s resulted in legislation and regulations outlawing the suppression of black voters, employment discrimination, prejudicial housing practices and segregation at lunch counters, schools and on buses.
The Oregonian/OregonLive has covered each night of the protests held since Floyd, who was African American, died after a Minneapolis police officer held his knee on Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes. Here’s what we know:
Who is protesting?
Thousands of marchers moved west onto the Burnside Bridge on the sixth night of protests in Portland. (Sean Meagher / Staff)The Oregonian
During past protests in Portland over the 2016 election of Donald Trump or the more recent clashes between Patriot Prayer and the Proud Boys, the vast majority of protesters were white. This time, in the protests over Floyd’s death, many of the protesters are black, especially young black adults.
Still, many protesters also have been white, but that’s largely reflective of the city’s and the state’s demographics.
Protesters say they’ve made it a point to ensure that those leading the marches and rallies are African American. At a recent march, leaders called for the African Americans in the crowd to move to the front before they trekked across a bridge, from Southeast Portland to downtown.
Who is organizing the protests?
No one group claims responsibility. But there are lots of “platforms” that have been sharing information on social media about the protests, including the Pacific Northwest Youth Liberation Front; Popular Mobilization, aka Pop Mob; Don’t Shoot Portland; Black Lives Matter Portland and Rose City Justice.
Even though no single group has come forward as the lead organization, the protests have drawn at least 8,000 to 10,000 participants for a few days this past week.
Is antifa driving these protests?
President Trump announced that antifa -- anti-fascists often clad in black with masks, even before the coronavirus pandemic -- are responsible for the burned buildings, vandalism and other destruction wreaked in cities across the nation last weekend. Trump announced antifa would be declared a terrorist organization.
A spokesperson for Pop Mob, said communities of color and people who feel genuine disgust over racism are fueling the protests -- not anarchists.
“Given the public perception and stigma that already exists against antifa ...it’s an easy scapegoat,” the spokesperson said. “If the politicians and the administration and the police can say ‘Oh, it’s just these white anarchists, it’s antifa, it’s not the communities that are affected by police murdering them’ …(then) it’s a way to delegitimize what is actually a very diverse movement.”
Of note, Pop Mob describes its mission as “Building a mass movement of everyday antifascists,” but says it’s not organizing the protests.
Have Patriot Prayer and the Proud Boys been involved?
One would think that supporters of the right-wing groups Patriot Prayer and the Proud Boys would be playing a big role in these protests, given their frequent attendance at Portland protests in recent years.
But protesters say they’ve seen few indications that the groups are present.
Patriot Prayer founder Joey Gibson told The Oregonian/OregonLive that he visited Portland once “by myself” -- on Friday, May 29 -- to watch the protests, but didn’t participate.
“I would love to be involved. I’m totally against police brutality. But I also don’t want to get murdered for going down there,” said Gibson, acknowledging that his presence likely wouldn’t be welcomed by other protesters.
He added: “My presence doesn’t even need to be there. I don’t need to provoke. I don’t need to agitate. Personally, I like seeing 10,000 people marching on the streets peacefully.”
Gibson is still facing a rioting charge in Multnomah County Circuit Court, alleging that he incited a dangerous confrontation between Patriot Prayer and antifa outside of the former Northeast Portland pub Cider Riot in May 2019.
How have the protests evolved?
Protestors demonstrated on the street outside the Multnomah County Justice Center in the first day of protests in Portland over George Floyd's death on May 28, 2020. (Mark Graves/Staff)Mark Graves
George Floyd died May 25. Three days later, Portland held its first protest -- with dozens of participants lying in the street next to the Multnomah County Justice Center, downtown jail and the Portland Police Bureau’s Central Precinct.
The next day, Friday, May 29, thousands filled Peninsula Park in North Portland in a peaceful showing. After they marched downtown, their numbers thinned and a smaller group spent the early morning hours setting fires within the justice center, Chase Bank and on the street. They also looted or shattered windows at Target, the Apple and Microsoft stores, Starbucks and Pioneer Place.
The city declared a temporary state of emergency and set a curfew that spanned four nights. Mayor Ted Wheeler rushed home from meeting with family who’d gathered to make plans because his mother is dying.
The protests have continued each night, but with less property damage and violence than that first Friday night. Protesters, however, have set some fires and thrown objects at police.
What force have police used?
Portland police have used stun grenades, smoke, tear gas and, on early Friday morning for the first time, a “long range acoustic device” that creates piercing sounds meant to get protesters to go home. By Friday evening, Wheeler announced that he’d directed police not to use the irritating sound device to disperse crowds.
Wheeler also indicated he supports a 30-day ban on tear gas, as Seattle leaders have done.
Police say they’ve used such tools when peaceful gatherings have turned violent with protesters throwing or using sling shots to propel bricks, mortars, bottles of water, cans of beer and glass bottles or tried to climb or knock down a chain-link fence erected temporarily to protect the justice center.
Although it wasn’t force, officers also have used spray paint to tag license plates of at least two cars. In a news release, police said that was so they could later easily spot cars they believed had brought weapons and “other supplies” to protesters.
KGW also recorded five police cars driving through barriers that several people had dragged out onto into the street next to Pioneer Square. The video shows the people frantically running out of the way. Police later explained they believed the people were going to set the barriers or debris on fire, and officers drove through to stop them.
Protesters say police escalate confrontations by acting far too aggressively. They say that starts with the riot gear and shields that officers wear for protests.
“When you fence off half the city, when you initiate a curfew, when you close off on ramps into the city, when everyone in the city of Portland gets a text message saying you can’t go out (tonight), when you show up to the protest in riot gear ... those are escalations,” said Greg McKelvey, a protester who became well-known after leading protests after Trump’s election in 2016.
How many have been arrested so far?
Close to 200 people have been cited or arrested by Portland police, as of early Sunday morning, for charges including interfering with a police officer, disorderly conduct, violating curfew, riot, theft or burglary of a business.
Some observers speculated that those arrested were out-of-towners who drove into the city to tear it apart. But an analysis by The Oregonian/OregonLive found that of those cited or arrested in the first few days of protests, most were from Portland and its immediate suburbs.
What effect have protests had on police?
Mentally and physically, it’s been taxing. Protesters have chanted “Quit your job!” over and over at officers. Protesters have shouted all sorts of expletives and names, including “Pigs!” Someone spray-painted “Oink” on the metal elk statue near Central Precinct.
Phrases such as “KILL COPS” and “ACAB,” which stands for “All Cops Are Bastards” were spray painted across the federal courthouse, across the street from police headquarters.
Police have said the vast majority of protesters are nonviolent, but violence has continued most nights and someone – protester, bystander or police -- could be seriously injured.
Physically, police have been working long hours. Police spokeswoman Nola Watts said she didn’t have numbers on overtime hours logged or how many officers have been working protests.
But the bureau appears to be maxed out. It has canceled all days off for officers. Other agencies also have helped staff protests or respond to emergency calls to relieve the burden on the bureau. The National Guard, Oregon State Police, Port of Portland Police and deputies from the Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas sheriff’s offices all have assisted.
What do protesters want?
There are many differing answers, depending on the protester.
Many protesters have said they want the city to “defund” police. But that appears to mean different things to different people.
Some want less money spent on police and more directed to community organizations that offer mental health help or substance abuse treatment -- to help people before they might ever get in trouble with police.
Others have renewed calls for Portland State University to disarm its campus police officers, pointing to the 2018 shooting of Jason Washington, a black man who reportedly tried to de-escalate a fight by confiscating the gun of a belligerent friend who he worried would make a “poor decision.”
Many protesters saw an announcement Thursday that armed police officers would no longer staff high schools in Portland as a success toward their “defunding” goal.
But some demonstrators are also calling for much more drastic change. The Youth Liberation Front, who has prominently promoted protests and calls for change on social media, told The Oregonian/OregonLive in an email that it wants the “abolition” of police. It also wants an end to prisons, borders and “the state as a whole.”
The state Legislature’s People of Color Caucus says it’ll support several bills, including one that would require the state’s attorney general to investigate and prosecute deaths caused by police officers.
McKelvey, the protester, said he wants police and public officials to admit wrongdoing in the deaths of people of color during confrontations with Portland police.
“We have elected officials who are very quick to condemn officers in Minneapolis in the death of George Floyd, but who haven’t uttered the names of Quanice Hayes or Kendra James or Terrell Johnson.”
What about the coronavirus?
With thousands of protesters crowding together shoulder-to-shoulder in cities across the nation, the concern that demonstrations will become super-spreader events is real, epidemiologists say. Masks and being outdoors help, but certainly don’t eliminate the risk.
Many protesters, however, believe that racism is a long-lasting pandemic that seriously threatens the lives of people of color, more so than the new coronavirus.
Cities from Seattle to San Francisco to New York have urged protesters to get tested for free.
Although not all protesters were eligible, Portland non-profit Self Enhancement, Inc. offered free coronavirus testing for up 300 members of the African American community on Saturday. The testing was designed to address the disproportionate impact the virus has had on communities of color.
-- Aimee Green; agreen@oregonian.com; @o_aimee
Reporters Maxine Bernstein, Shane Dixon Kavanaugh and Joe Freeman contributed to this report.
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