September 5th: Day 100

Originally tweeted by Laura Jedeed (Misanthrophile) (@1misanthrophile) on September 6, 2020

Hi there, arriving late to Ventura Park and trying to adjust my eyes to the total darkness. The park lights are all out

A coincidence I'm sure

#BlackLivesMatter #PortlandProtesters #PDXprotests #PoliceViolence #PoliceBrutality #AbolishThePolice #DefendPDX

I can't tell exactly how big the crowd is because almost no light but it looks massive. High hundreds

A performer whose name I should really, really know by now is performing an a capella rap he wrote especially for this occasion

Thank you! It's C3

C3

— Kathleen McDade (@kmcdade) September 6, 2020

A snippet of the performance. The effect of the single light in darkness is powerful to me

CE talks about ninjas. He says, ninjas don't directly confront samurai. They go for leadership

"We're in a state of guerilla warfare. You are outnumbered and outarmed. We aren't the samurai. We are the ninjas, and we gotta use the tools we got. We gotta go undercover"

He talks about his father and the foundations of the Black Panther party. This old struggle

This grounding in time helps me remember that this is a long fight. The importance of patience even after 100 long days

"Do what you've got to do but stay true," C3 sings

An activist talks about marching plans

"Remember, if they try to stop us, be water!"

"Be soup!" someone yells out

"Yes! Be soup!"

The crowd chants "Black Lives Matter!" and gets ready to move out

Holy shit, it's DJ LRAD

Before the march even forms up, before anyone even really moves towards the street, we are informed that we will not be permitted to march to East Precinct, that we are to return to the park via sidewalk

I kind of expected the Portland Police to be very PR-conscious this evening. Maybe this is their way of doing that. Try to keep it to the park, where it's dark and no one can take any good footage of Day 100

Yeah, that feels right

Chanting as the crowd takes to the street and begins to march

Holy shit there are SO MANY PEOPLE

A line of riot cops awaits

I cannot overestimate how outnumbered they are

I am definitely wearing my gas mask

What in the fuck

A molotov cocktail explodes just in front of the protest line and catches someone on fire. Then more molotovs. It's not clear whether they are aimed for the front line of the protest or the cops, but my money is on the front line

Riot declared

It's war

All of this is tear gas

Thank you @OccupiedSeattle for the gas mask that kept me upright through this

The protest has reformed at 117th and Stark

"Who threw that molotov! Fess up! You hit a protester!!"

I think things might have gone very different just now if not for the molotovs

It's worth noting that the police are still horribly outnumbered, which means this gas mask is going to become one with my face tonight

Horribly outnumbered, everyone

I cannot overstate how outnumbered they are

Dumpster fires just don't hit the same after bottles of flaming death explodes next to you

Nonetheless, we have a dumpster fire and a barricade

Another push and so much tear gas. I think the filter is saturated. Fuck

The crowd splits 3 ways. Police pause at 119th and Stark

Before the tear gas: cops push through flaming barricade

Cops rush and make arrests, then start firing the gas

#BlackLivesMatter #PortlandProtesters #PDXprotests #PoliceViolence #PoliceBrutality #AbolishThePolice #DefendPDX

The police arrest someone seemingly at random at the intersection. We move out to try to find the crowd, which is very much water at this point

(For everyone asking: I'm uninjured and fine)

We have rejoined the crowd. It's still huge

96 days ago, a crowd about this size got hopelessly scattered by maybe half that amount of tear gas

But that was then. This is now

The cops find us in the maze of residential streets. They charge, tackle, arrest

#BlackLivesMatter #PortlandProtesters #PDXprotests #PoliceViolence #PoliceBrutality #AbolishThePolice #DefendPDX

The group I'm with pauses on a major street and tries to figure out what to do. I'd guess there's been at least one split at this point. Maybe 200 in this group

It's amazing how much more comfortable a gas mask seems after it saves you from massive clouds of tear gas multiple times. I could wear this all day. I may never take it off

Every time you hear the "this is what democracy looks like" chant on a livestream know that I'm quietly losing my fucking mind. Every time. Every time

This is what a dystopian hellscape looks like

Marching down 122nd: a major road. Cops blocking some of the residential streets but not charging or LRADing currently

Some angels sent directly from heaven just handed out Otter Pops

That's Otter Pops: official sponsor of #BlackLivesMatter whether they like it or not

(my love affair with this gas mask does not allow me to partake, tragically)

Two groups unite!! The other group is about the size of ours, so we're probably 500 strong now? Maybe more

Someone's playing Rage Against the Machine. It's good

Unless the cops have more reinforcements than we've seen so far, the cops are

Once again

Horribly outnumbered

DJ LRAD back, reminding everyone that this is still a riot and ordering the crowd to move back to the East

The direction they want us to go changes often, I notice

Riot line forming. See you on the other side of the push

Cops push, then charge. Takedowns and arrests again

#BlackLivesMatter #PortlandProtesters #PDXprotests #PoliceViolence #PoliceBrutality #AbolishThePolice #DefendPD

A cop shoves press to the ground

#BlackLivesMatter #PortlandProtesters #PDXprotests #PoliceViolence #PoliceBrutality #AbolishThePolice #DefendPD

Pictured: yet more tear gas and, I think, the snack ban getting its tires popped again

Not pictured: what democracy looks like

My gas mask is doing its best and it's best is, increasingly, not good enough. My kingdom for a fresh filter

Coughing and wondering why I never took up smoking.

Another charge. Anyone who falls is arrested

#BlackLivesMatter #PortlandProtesters #PDXprotests #PoliceViolence #PoliceBrutality #AbolishThePolice #DefendPD

Police try to stop press from making an arrest. I've found that the best strategy for a reasonably buff 5'8" person is to just ignore these instructions and keep filming. They're like sharks. They can smell fear. Don't show any and they ignore you

It's worked so far anyway

Police push protesters past Ventura Park Elementary School, more tear gas used. Then a retreat

Seems not cool to use tear gas near an elementary school where kids play in the grass and shit but what do I know

Then, the police retreat back down the street. Form up by the elementary school

Just standing here now, waiting to see what happens next I guess. Protest pretty well scattered again

Another double time push. Not a lot accomplished that I can see. Reports of them going after press, I didn't have a good view

DJ LRAD sounds exhausted as he tells the crowd to disperse to the North

Cops currently standing in a riot line and catching their breath

This happened about 15 minutes ago and I didn't have time to upload it but sound on for somone absolutely letting the cops have it with both verbal barrels

The cops keep rushing forward without warning to try and arrest one of the dudes yelling at them

He keeps running faster than them

It must be very frustrating

@MildlyAutistic is in high form tonight

"None of you know how to cook meatloaf! You wash your cast-iron skillets with soap! Y'all look like the kind of n***** who ride a horse with both feet on one side! You look like you buy lift kits just to crawl over speed bumps at 1MPH!"

"All you motherfuckers look like you would have told Sigourney Weaver not to worry about the alien! You look like you have no idea what the Bechdel Test is"

"All of you look just like the motherfucker who gave me a TBI"

Trying to rejoin the march. A riot van zooms past me on 117th and Taylor

By the way if you're looking for info on what's happening while I wander around trying to find the march, check out @45thabsurdist, @hungrybowtie, @IwriteOK, I believe @PDocumentarians, and probably loads more

Cops blocking traffic on Market and 119th

I have rejoined the march! Still a very good-sized crowd. @SoundBlocPDX playing some smooth R&B

Feels good man

The protest has, once again, encountered DJ LRAD, who says the usual stuff. At a certain point in the evening it becomes repetitive to the point of boredom and I have officially reached that point

The dispersal location is East now

Protesters direct traffic through the protest as the protest waits to see what happens with the cops up ahead

The protest decides to be water–or soup–and vanishes into the residential streets

A riot line greets us at Ventura Park and pushes to the intersection by the elementary school

Then they fire gas and blast with impact munitions

The police leave. The crowd pauses

Eventually, "Bella Ciao" begins to play and the crowd begins to move, clapping and singing along

As the protest moves through the elementary school playground, people in black bloc pause to swing on the swings, slide down the slides

It's great

Again the protest emerges from Ventura Park, and again DJ LRAD tells us to disperse. To the East, this time

And here they come …

They sound so bored and tired

A push through the park

The police announce that the parks are closed, "even to press," and push us through the park

This is against the TRO, by the way

One of the families who lives here comes out of their house and begs the police to stop using tear gas

"Where can I buy a gas mask for a 1-year-old! Our neighbor is pregnant. Please, do not gas us! This is completely unnecessary!"

Police make an arrest and threaten to arrest someone else for "standing in the park." They are standing on the sidewalk and let them know they're wrong. Sound on

At this point, the protest is about 50 people watching the cops make arrests. This will probably go on for a while but between this and Patriot Prayer earlier I've been at this for 9 hours and I'm gonna tap out

Solidarity with everyone still out here! 100 days!!!

I am become sweat, destroyer of hygeine. Definitely a shower beer night

By the way, if you found this helpful and feel like buying me a beer, no pressure but you certainly can!

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