There have been 47 consecutive nights of protests in Portland following the death of George Floyd, but Mayor Ted Wheeler rejected an offer to help from the acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.
Wheeler, a Democrat, said acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf reached out to his office to offer assistance in quelling the demonstrations. Wheeler responded that his “biggest immediate concern is the violence federal officers brought to our streets in recent days, and the life-threatening tactics [Department of Homeland Security] agents use.”
“We do not need or want their help,” he added.
I told the Acting Secretary that my biggest immediate concern is the violence federal officers brought to our streets in recent days, and the life-threatening tactics his agents use. We do not need or want their help.
— Mayor Ted Wheeler (@tedwheeler) July 14, 2020
Wheeler told federal agents to stay inside of their buildings or leave Portland. He added that they should remove the graffiti plastered on federal facilities.
“The best thing they can do is stay inside their building, or leave Portland altogether. Our goal is to end these violent demonstrations quickly and safely. And in the meantime, I asked him to clean up the graffiti on local federal facilities,” he tweeted. “While we’re busy cleaning our streets and buildings, the two federal buildings are covered with graffiti that has been there for weeks on end. Our plan is this: protect our community. Clean up our city. And re-open.”
While we’re busy cleaning our streets and buildings, the two federal buildings are covered with graffiti that has been there for weeks on end. Our plan is this: protect our community. Clean up our city. And re-open.
— Mayor Ted Wheeler (@tedwheeler) July 14, 2020
Anti-capitalist and anti-fascist teenagers known as the Northwest Youth Liberation Front are reportedly the main organizers of the violence that has gripped the city for over a month. The group hopes to achieve a political revolution.
“We are a bunch of teenagers armed with ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) and yerba mate — we can take a 5 a.m. raid and be back on our feet a few hours later,” the group wrote on June 18.
In early July, rioters burned down a historic statue of an elk, which was erected in the city more than a century ago. At the same protest, demonstrators threw projectiles at police who were attempting to disperse the crowd with pepper balls and a flash-bang grenade.
In what the U.S. attorney for Oregon called a “significant escalation in violence,” rioters targeted courthouses and federal buildings with firebombs and explosive mortars over the Independence Day weekend.
Portland police announced that businesses in the downtown area have sustained about $23 million in damage as of July 9. Deputy Police Chief Chris Davis said the rioting is “not sustainable” and placed the blame on a “small group of agitators that is attempting to hijack the message of [Black Lives Matter] and use it as a cover for criminal activity.”
“There’s a very big difference between protests and the kind of mayhem that we’ve seen every night,” he said.
