This past Wednesday night Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler made a highly publicized appearance at the Portland Antifa/BLM protests. He started off by addressing the assembled protesters early in the evening, and then joined the protesters as they walked to the Hatfield Federal Courthouse not far away. Once he arrived the crowd called for him to come to the front, where the black fence surrounding the courthouse stops the protester from advancing further. He wore a face mask while walking, and once he went the fence he put on a helmet. Several large men seemed to be on all sides of him, all dressed in normal casual clothing. There are videos of people talking to him while recording his answers to questions with cell phones.
Meanwhile, protesters down the street have started shooting fireworks at the federal courthouse. pic.twitter.com/XVmfVI1ty5
— Mike Baker (@ByMikeBaker) July 23, 2020
But, as has happened every night for more than a week, as the evening got later the “protesters” faded away and were replaced by agitators and rioters. The Mayor then leaves the scene at the federal courthouse and walks with his entourage to the nearly county courthouse. Along the way he was denounced by the crowd, and more objects are thrown in his direction. Eventually, a scuffle between the crowd around him and his own security detail of 6-7 men ended with Wheeler getting inside the county courthouse with the door locked behind him.
Wheeler leaves the scene. Protesters throw water bottles at him and curse him. He manages to get inside a building after a scuffle between protesters and his security detail. pic.twitter.com/eRn2gWlpqm
— Mike Baker (@ByMikeBaker) July 23, 2020
The next day Wheeler said all the right things for a lefty democrat — the protests were peaceful, and the reaction from the federal law enforcement agents was over-the-top and unnecessary.
But since that night Wheeler has changed Portland’s “hands-off” policy when it came to dealing with the rioters in the streets around the federal building. The Portland PD has returned to the action, and for the second night in a row was out in force working side-by-side with the federal agents. The videos posted on Twitter the past two nights show far more arrests being made that was the case when the federal agents seemed to be on their own. Mayor Wheeler will never admit it publicly, but his experience in the crowd last week made an impact on him in terms of understanding that the level of violence coming from the rioters cannot go unaddressed by the City. Not only are Portland PD officers out in large numbers, but they have also adopted very aggressive tactics towards the rioters.
Here are some highlights from tonight:
Portland police firing line advances on Antifa mob. pic.twitter.com/o65ElFlMHG
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) July 27, 2020
But the real action against came from the federal agents in response to a new level of provocation from the protesters — Molotov cocktails were thrown over the fence, as well as some having been confiscated by Portland PD.
Image
Rioters have now thrown Molotov Cocktails at the courthouse pic.twitter.com/bM5TfqcdzJ
— Drew Hernandez (@livesmattershow) July 27, 2020
The federal agents then turned aggressive in making arrests in order to disperse the crowd.
Law and order. Federal officers perform multiple arrests as Antifa rioters get violent. pic.twitter.com/tgoUVEAyHX
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) July 27, 2020
BREAKING: rioter interferes with the arrest of 2 women (tweets coming), is pepper sprayed, then arrested after being tackled to the ground
That marks 3 arrests in less than 10 minutes pic.twitter.com/bBYm2Eo4sI
— ELIJAH RIOT (@ElijahSchaffer) July 27, 2020
BREAKIN: Over the bull sh*t, federal police unleash crowd control munitions on rioters pursuing them back to the federal courthouse pic.twitter.com/6YhgNrMNAf
— ELIJAH RIOT (@ElijahSchaffer) July 27, 2020
Antifa tries to interfere with a federal arrest of a protester. pic.twitter.com/2CmVpeN0w4
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) July 27, 2020
Hey look — a big pile of rocks in the middle of the street.
SUDDENLY: rocks appear out of nowhere all over the ground outside the Portland federal courthouse pic.twitter.com/cRms9c6LeH
— ELIJAH RIOT (@ElijahSchaffer) July 27, 2020
Antifa militants are throwing rocks at the federal courthouse. pic.twitter.com/tnT1ZP7vhQ
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) July 27, 2020
With Court back in session on Monday, we should begin to get more information about the names and charges filed in connection with the numerous arrests over the past 72 hours.
