Read all of this thread, about the violent siege of the Portland federal courthouse. /1 https://twitter.com/MikeBalsamo1/status/1287606653110517760

And then read this related @AP investigation, based on embedding with the marshals defending the embattled Mark O. Hatfield courthouse: https://apnews.com/1dd1bb39093a3691f4e78093787ab877 /2

“'We are not here being violent or being destructive. ... there is nothing to quell here,' she said ... As she spoke, small pods of three to four protesters dressed in black circulated in the crowd, stopping every few minutes to point green laser beams in the eyes of agents." /3

"By the end of the night, five other federal agents would be injured, including another who got a concussion when he was hit in the head with a commercial-grade firework. One agent was hospitalized. Several agents have lingering vision problems from the lasers." /4

It's vital to hold law enforcers to constitutional and good-practice standards of policing, and there have been real breaches that call for investigation. But isn't it time to stop dismissing the Portland siege as "graffiti" or "vandalism"? /5