Resurrecting an old thread that still applies.
Huffington Post is said to be biased. In these times, speaking truth about what happens might sound that way. This is the unvarnished truth. What Huffpo says actually happened this weekend. Cops just stood aside and let armed right wing white supremacists brawl and menace the good people of Portland who don't want them in their city. The cops do. If armed Antifa showed up, they would be mowed down by the police.
Note the "Texas" patch on the fascist pictured above. These guys don't even live in the Pacific Northwest. They are coming here from all over the country to do Trump and his fascist Republican Party's dirty work. Portland's police are cooperating with them.
The police sent a clear message to both groups when they simply ignored that a Proud Boy who was convicted of rioting and paroled on the provision that he stay away from demonstrations was there. He's violated parole several times already and has a warrant outstanding for him from earlier appearances. Video shows that guy walking right by the police without concern.
Call, email or write your Congressman and demand they take action on this. The same is likely to happen elsewhere. This cooperation between police and paramilitary fascist goons echoes from 1920's and fascist take-overs in Italy, Germany and Spain. The police are becoming Trump's enforcers, not local officers of the peace. Like Trump, the police demonstrate that they consider the law a tool to be used for their own purposes and not their duty to enforce.
This is not a new development, it has been going on for a while now. Fascist police are why Portland's Antifa came to be. Trump's plans to use paramilitary goons against anti-fascist demonstrators been in the works for some time now. We can't let them win.
Portland Police Are Giving Up On Policing The Far-Right
Officers allowed street brawls between “willing participants” last weekend, despite escalating violence from Proud Boys and other far-right groups.
Officers allowed street brawls between "willing participants" last weekend, despite escalating violence from Proud Boys and other far-right groups.
www.huffpost.com
The Portland Police Bureau appears to have all but given up on policing the far-right factions brawling in the Oregon city’s streets, despite a recent escalation in violence that has seen those extremists throw explosives, brandish guns and in one case fire them at other protesters.
It’s common to see far-right extremist groups like the Proud Boys exchanging blows with counterprotesters in Portland. They’ve been doing that for years, often as PPB officers watched until a riot was officially declared and then police cleared the streets using tear gas and other munitions.
But over the weekend, police took an entirely hands-off approach to the fighting, even as the demonstrations grew more violent than ever. As officers stood by on Saturday, the Proud Boys and their far-right friends attacked and intimidated anti-fascist protesters using paintball guns, mace, fireworks, aluminum bats and various firearms, according to The Washington Post.
One of them — notorious Proud Boys organizer Alan Swinney — was seen pointing a gun at protesters, his finger on the trigger. Another Proud Boy, Tusitala “Tiny” Toese, was present, per the Post, in apparent violation of his parole over an attack at a similar demonstration in 2017 (he wasn’t apprehended on Saturday, but a judge on Monday issued a warrant for his arrest).