Chris Davis, deputy police chief of the Portland Police Bureau, said in a July 8 press conference, “This was a more violent episode of civil unrest than we had — than I have ever seen in my entire career at Portland Police Bureau.”
He was referring to events on the night of May 29. Imagine what he must be saying now.
In Portland, Oregon, the three-month mark of continuing criminality approaches. The chaos in that city has been occurring nightly since May 29, when the Multnomah County Justice Center was set on fire, and criminals began their monthslong assault on police officers and their city. Similar activity has continued this week.
On Monday, groups marched, blocked traffic, and shined lasers at officers. As they marched, they shouted, “What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now! If we don’t get it? Burn it down!”
On Tuesday, they came back and set dumpster fires, broke windows at the Multnomah County building, and then set it on fire. They have continued to throw rocks, glass bottles, and paint balloons at police officers.
On Wednesday and Thursday, groups gathered outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement building and began vandalizing it and shining lasers at the federal officers. The officers exited the building and began to disperse the crowds, along with Portland police.
On Friday, several federal buildings in Portland were closed after authorities received a threat that a vehicle filled with explosives would target a federal building.
It is unconscionable that this violence and destruction has continued for 85 days. Public officials, including Oregon Gov. Kate Brown and Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, have basically aided and abetted the violence for months because it has been happening in such close proximity (physically and ideologically) to protests against police brutality, which they support. Wheeler, to his credit, has issued some strong statements decrying the violence, but he has undermined his police department with his approach to the policing questions at hand.
Portland City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty was outright conspiratorial in her assessment. “I want people to know I do not believe that there are any protesters in Portland that are starting fires, that are creating chaos,” she said in July. “I absolutely believe that it is police action, and they (sic) sending saboteurs and provocateurs into peaceful crowds so that they can justify their inhumane treatment of people who are standing up for their right.” She later apologized.
The most tragic thing about Portland is the normalization of such criminality. Too many Democratic public officials have given the mobs a pass, which, during a Democratic convention week that has outlined their heightened sensitivity to threats to democracy, is dreadfully ironic.
