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Ok, we’re up.
Lots of things happened downtown in PDX last night. We’re going to debrief some of them, focusing on police actions, & how the crowd responded to them.
Happy 2021 to everyone, including the PNW Boomer Liberation Front(?)
(A thread, with pictures!)
Lots of things happened downtown in PDX last night. We’re going to debrief some of them, focusing on police actions, & how the crowd responded to them.
Happy 2021 to everyone, including the PNW Boomer Liberation Front(?)
(A thread, with pictures!)
If you want to see a bunch of broken glass in PDX’s luxury shopping district around Pioneer Courthouse, check out Zane’s thread. Cuz that happened. https://twitter.com/pdxzane/status/1344947893908639744
And if you want to read an almost entirely fabricated account, where grown men flesh out their elaborate fantasies of Molotov cocktails while taking pictures of melted trash cans, the Portland Police Bureau’s official statement is here: https://www.portlandoregon.gov/police/news/read.cfm?id=271438
DHS were the first law enforcement to come out. This may be because of the general proximity to the federal courthouse and the 2020 mascot finale, or that they have offices on the building with Starbucks.
As you can see in the last video their line was really raggedy and there were way fewer federal officers then normally come out at these things. They are definitely spooked when the fireworks hit the line and seem totally unprepared
So reminder, by the point that these officers came out PPB had already declared both an unlawful assembly and a riot but there were no PPB officers to be seen
They managed to push protesters up to 4th and then seemed to not really know what to do. People with shields were highly ineffective at blocking water bottles and things thrown and even though DHS was using lots of foam impact rounds and pepper balls people were not dispersing
Protesters begin pushing DHS back and throwing fireworks and paint balloons which seem to really shake them. https://twitter.com/hungrybowtie/status/1344913485788893190
As they stumble back they end up using mace in large quantities just wildly spraying chemical weapons to get space between themselves and the protesters
As they continue to draw back, DHS maces a protester. Either this, or fireworks behind them, get DHS moving forward again, still macing. If you’ve been to chud rallies, you know how this goes: they walk into their own mace, & mace your friends who walk faster than you. (0:45- ow)
This goes about how you’d expect: you can see an officer with a blue mask & shield, on the right, start to notice effects of being inadvertently maced, & another officer, behind them, tearing off their mask, & being grabbed by the collar and led backwards by their superior. https://twitter.com/45thabsurdist/status/1344915066580189186
This is the end of their retreat. Important to note that the remains of the dumpster fire force some awkward maneuvering
Well broke the thread. https://twitter.com/45thabsurdist/status/1345143217839198208
PPB, MCSO and DHS (who of the three agencies are still not wearing gas masks, wait for it). All together push protesters back to fourth with a much larger reinforced line
The LEOs move forward and fireworks and their own smoke canisters are tossed back at them. They release OC and you can see a bunch of people in the background moving away from officers. This is DHS needing to leave because of gas. As the smoke clears DHS is no longer there https://twitter.com/hungrybowtie/status/1344923044511318016
Here is DHS coordinating with city and county law enforcement just prior to being gassed by them
Around this point Officers set off a LOT of yellow smoke. They then used the cloud cover to burst out of their line randomly hitting and assaulting protesters. For everyone who may comment with something about criminals, the police were not arresting people just hitting them.
Here is another view of the police tuning up and assaulting people https://twitter.com/hungrybowtie/status/1344923954184482817
And the crowd once again pushes officers back despite tear gas and smoke. It turns midnight just after this and PPB leaves. We’re not sure if this had to do with their federal deputization ending then or what but it was a strange push and then withdraw
Note on police tactics they did large deployments of smoke deliberately every time they were about to do large pushes forward or withdrawals
One more of people finally pushing police back. Last night had an interesting mix of very inexperienced LEOs with protesters who were not going to leave and protesters using fireworks the way that police use flash bangs. https://twitter.com/r3volutiondaddy/status/1344913933497376769
Happy new year. We leave you with this stirring example of fine police work. We all probably paid several thousand dollars for this moment.
Bonk
