July 11th: Feds Brutalize Non-Violent Protest

On July 11th, 2020, a variety of federal agencies responded with brutal violence against a protest that was completely non-violent and which, to our knowledge, damaged no property and injured no person. The agencies involved included DHS, federal marshals, and the American Shield initiative: an elite border security force

Enough tear gas was used that residents could smell the tear gas for blocks on this almost-windless night. At approximately 10:00 PM, the feds retreated into the district courthouse but left the two double doors open. For the next hour, protesters watched and attempted to decipher the movement within those doors. Sometimes the feds were barely visible, sometimes they crowded the doorway. After a few furious announcements declaring the protesters trespassing and threatening them with violence, the feds went largely silent for the next hour.

As the warnings faded, protesters pushed into the street. A protester with a megaphone began urging the gathering to move to the Justice Center. “This is not for black lives!” he declared, and expressed concern that everyone here would be labeled terrorists. He explained that the feds can charge protesters with federal crimes and possibly destroy their futures, and stated that “we have no beef with the feds.” The bloodstain on the sidwalk behind the protest offered a silent rebuttal of that last statement, and a few protesters gave voice to it. After about twenty minutes of concerted effort, the protester with the megaphone gave up and left.

The standoff continued. Protesters gradually began to push up to t he sidewalk. At approximately 11:00, the feds broadcast a deafening siren into the crowd–possibly a use of the LRAD as a weapon. Immediately, protesters began handing around ear plugs. The feds deployed the siren several times but this weapon had less effect each time. At 11:30, J. counted six twenty-second bursts of the siren. By this time, the sound had little to no effect. A protester as they climbed onto the sidewalk and began to dance in time to the wailing.

At 11:40, the feds informed the crowd via microphone that shining lasers at feds constitutes assault. There was extremely limited laser use: far less than at previous events. The feds did not elaborate on whether shooting a protester in the head with crowd control munitions or deploying massive opaque clouds of tear gas in a public area constitutes assault.

Protesters continued to grow bolder and to advance farther up the sidewalk. The protesters were unarmed. No property damage or violence occurred. At no point did anyone get within more than 10 feet of the doors.

At 12:10 AM, the feds fired a barrage of pepper balls into the crowd and sent protesters fleeing for the safety of the street. A furious voice informed us that we were trespassing and that if we continued to trespass “you will be dispersed.”

At 12:15, feds deployed multiple tear gas canisters against the protesters. The gas filled both the street and Lownsdale Park. Most protesters fled to 5th and Salmon, where medics treated casualties and the group rallied for a push back to the district courthouse. A few protesters remained to extinguish the munitions using traffic cones and water: a trick learned from the battle-hardened protesters of Hong Kong

Protesters began to return to Lownsdale Park around 12:40, where they found a line of feds in front of the courthouse. Another line of feds once again blocked the intersection at 3rd and Madison. For many protesters, anger overcame fear and the protest advanced across the street, at times only feet from the line of armed federal agents. Protesters screamed at the fedsand pleaded for de-escalation. Friends of the protester shot in the head earlier were especially furious. One of them shouted for the feds to kill themselves. Despite this fury, the protesters did not damage property or assault the officers in any way.

At 1:09, the feds announced that they were going to retreat into the building, and that if the protesters set foot on the curb they would “be gassed.” The retreat initially seemed to go well, but a federal agent shot pepper balls into the crowd just as he reached the door. At this point, agents erupted from the doors and once again gassed the protest. This time, the gas stayed mostly in the street but the clouds were thick enough to obscure the courthouse. 

As the CS began to clear around 1:15, an activist in a reflective vest picked up munitions with grill tongs and placed them carefully into a large bucket. Only after he’d filled his bucket did he stop and allow someone to rinse his red and swollen eyes. Later, he reached for a piece of munition on the sidewalk and instantly got shot with pepper balls. His intentions were clearly peaceful.

By 1:30 the crowd had returned to the street. Despite an absence of protesters on the sidewalk, the feds began shooting pepper balls at a largely-unimpressed crowd. In response, protesters threw perhaps three water bottles and a couple traffic cones thrown at one of the open doors. None of these projectiles hit the agents.

The crowd braced for a response, but instead, at 1:40, the feds closed the courthouse doors. Protesters instantly surged onto the sidewalk, and a couple of protesters spraypainted the building walls. Gradually, the protesters retreated to the street. Perhaps they sensed a trap.

If so, they sensed correctly. At 1:57, federal agents rushed from the doors to perform targeted arrests. A group of feds tackled a protester as they once again filled Lownsdale park with tear gas, then swarmed the park and formed a police line. They advanced and fired yet more tear gas as they pushed protesters out of the park and onto the street.

Federal agents and Portland Police Bureau personnel formed a deep line at the intersection of 4th and Main. At 2:10, they charged forward and rapidly drove the protest to Broadway and Main, where they stopped. At this time, the Portland Police Bureau announced that “downtown is closed” and ordered protesters to stay West of Broadway. This was the first PPB announcement of the evening. No unlawful assembly was ever declared.

At 2:15, the feds retreated and left a line of Portland police to confront the protesters. Once again, the police announced that downtown is closed and ordered the protesters to stay West of Broadway. At 2:20, the police climbed aboard their riot vans and left. However, when protesters began to advance down broadway, they came back immediately. “You were warned,” they reminded us over the LRAD, but did not use violence at that time. Protesters made their way West as riot vans cruised the area. Eventually the protesters were pushed to 14th and Alder, where the crowd largely dispersed