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Robert Evans here, back on the streets of Portland where several streets around the North Precinct have been occupied and barricaded. 400 or so people here now.
Here we see the entrance to the precinct, zip tied shut.
As soon as I enter, a roving Sanitation Professional offers to spritz down my hands with sanitizer.
From behind the barricades, a riot line. The folks I talk to seem to think they were caught by surprise by this. I'm hearing some folks weren't even in full gear when the line formed.
A conscious decision was made not to completely block their vehicle depot, or the police access to their personal videos. Elaine, who was here at the start, seems to think this was to give them a way out.
There is a cop on the roof of the Precinct, and he is being lasered and lit up and heckled pretty constantly.
Some graffiti on the Precinct wall.
Lots of construction going on around me. I hear power tools in all directions. The air smells like cooking meat, cigarettes and spray paint.
Lots of construction going on around me. I hear power tools in all directions. The air smells like cooking meat, cigarettes and spray paint.
Well, first attack of the night. According to witnesses someone in a silver sedan got turned away from the barricade, flipped around and deliberately rammed two vehicles. One is disabled. No one injured. Offender license plate 891LSM.
Here is a better shot of one of the disabled vehicles.
I'm avoiding much filming, but I witnessed like six young people in black bloc who liberated a dumpster from a nearby business and took it to make more barricades.
When I met them they where wheeling it back home, when they learned it was the dumpster for a black-owned small biz
When I met them they where wheeling it back home, when they learned it was the dumpster for a black-owned small biz
There are currently three lines of vehicle barricades by Emerson and Rose Lawn. In general streets have vehicle barricades set up further out while permanent barricades are constructed deeper inside.
I have to say this feels extremely competent and methodical.
I have to say this feels extremely competent and methodical.
You can get a nice look at the front of the Occupation here. The man being interviewed was out for a midnight motorcycle ride. He found the occupation and decided to volunteer. He was here when the car that rammed those other vehicles went through the barricade.
Someone just drove up in a hatchback and asked "where should we go if we want to be part of the barricade?" Guards guide them in and advise where several vehicle bound protesters are about to leave, sealing a hole in the vehicle lines.
Back at Emerson, the barricades have started taking shape quite nicely.
Pretty solid barricades, considering they've been here for just an hour or so. Multiple layers, bolts and zip ties and pretty robust fencing.
Another door to the North Precinct has been barricaded closed, this one pretty thoroughly.
Over to my left, activists tag the everloving shit out of the Precinct. One of the first actions taken when the occupation started was to spraypaint over every camera on the building. Again, very methodical and disciplined.
The LRAD has arrived, as we see in this view through the Precinct barricades. Hand built shields have been set up atop it for quick use.
The protesters have brought their own heavy equipment to bear on the wall of the Precinct.
Someone on a bullhorn is demanding the police leave. After I stopped recording, he repeated: "This is our precinct now. Return to your homes."
Welp, one of the rooftop cops- the guy who has been getting lasered for an hour or so- fired into the crowd with pepper balls. He pulls back after this. Someone on a bullhorn chants "Your poor trigger discipline is a shame to the American people."
The late shift.
Here at MLK and Killingsworth, a half dozen dumpsters have been laid down in front of the vehicle wall to stop cars from driving through the protest.
And it is a good thing too, because this red truck- which matches descriptions of a red truck that had tried to run down several protesters- showed up at just that moment, a bit after 1 AM. A similar if not identical vehicle tried to run down one of my crew weeks back.
Portland Police Bureau have declared an unlawful assembly and are demanding everyone leave.
Pretty tense moment right now.
Shields and umbrellas have been called up to the front.
A large chunk of fence has been brought up the front. I would guess around 100 people here at the barricades. Perhaps a few more. That number again elsewhere holding things down.
I'm avoiding footage until the shooting starts.
I'm avoiding footage until the shooting starts.
