The world was assured by Democrats that if Donald Trump’s “stormtroopers” left Portland, antifa and Black Lives Matter riots would simply stop. And yet another riot was declared on Wednesday night in Portland on Day 69 of the riots.
Tonight’s group outside of East Precinct’s entrance doors setting fire. https://t.co/8SnwFd7Zof
— Portland Police (@PortlandPolice) August 6, 2020
During the attack on the police precinct, the rioters blocked traffic and shone green lasers into the eyes of police officers.
They followed up by destroying the cameras surrounding the precinct.
Tonight’s group outside of East Precinct destructing security cameras. https://t.co/3T2B6pbb0K
— Portland Police (@PortlandPolice) August 6, 2020
When that was over, the antifa mob went to the home of a woman whom they labeled a “Nazi” and woke up the neighborhood, beat on her door, shouted threats, and shone lasers into her windows.
After #antifa were dispersed by police following the attack on the East Precinct, they tried to blind a woman at her home with lasers and attacked her.
Antifa have gone into residential parts of the city after moving on from attacking federal courthouse. pic.twitter.com/mKcrgHixmC
— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) August 6, 2020
Riots and “mass gatherings,” as Portland police euphemistically call them, have been going on every night for the past 70, well before federal police were dispatched to protect the federal courthouse. Most nights the unruly mobs are declared an unlawful assembly and riot.
Related: Portland Courthouse Bomber Busted After Trump-Loving Grandma Accidentally ‘Outs’ Him
Still, if you’re Governor Kate Brown and Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler it’s just so much easier to blame the chaos on President Trump instead of bad local leadership. As usual, the Democrats running the state have a set narrative that’s as laughable as it is wrong.
Wall Street Journal columnist William McGurn observed in a piece headlined “Trump Wins in Portland” that the president has forced the locals to do their jobs, which they weren’t doing before.
Gov. Kate Brown sums up the dominant narrative: “The president’s decision to send federal troops to Portland was a political stunt and it backfired.” Likewise the headline over a Washington Post story that Mayor Ted Wheeler, retweeted this past Friday: “Trump ordered federal forces to quell Portland protests. But the chaos ended as soon as they left.”
… [I]f protesters are no longer trying to break into or set fire to the federal courthouse, it’s less because federal officers are no longer protecting it than because state and local police finally are. Which suggests a more practical measure for judging the results of Donald Trump’s law-and-order interventions.
In this light, acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf applauded the relative calm that now holds but dryly tweeted that “stepping up and doing the right thing should not take 60 days.” Contrary to what the governor has said, moreover, Mr. Wolf emphasizes that the federal law-enforcement officers sent to Portland remain there on reserve and won’t leave until they are confident the courthouse is safe from attack.
The federal government got a promise from the governor that the Oregon State Police and Portland Bureau of Police would be deployed to quell the riots in downtown Portland around the federal courthouse. The feds would remain only deploy if needed.
Let’s take a look at the other days of riots following the so-called withdrawal of the feds—riots that national and international media claim aren’t occurring anymore.
Day 69 of the riots on Wednesday was almost like Day 68, when rioters tried “breaking into the back door of the Portland Police Association (PPA) building again. You know, the one they’d set on fire a week or so ago.
Day 67 was another “mass gathering” in which PBP officers withstood “throwing objects at officers and flashing laser pointers, bright flashlights, and strobe lights in the officers’ eyes. … During the dispersal, the officers had paint balloons and other objects thrown at them. One officer was punched. Another was injured in the arm by a protester swinging a stick or baton. Another arrest was made. After moving the crowd several blocks, officers deployed inert smoke to allow officers to safely disengage.”
On Day 66 there was a two-fer: rioting AND looting.
Can You Help? H&M Looting and Theft https://t.co/0sVCbu6MSv #CanYouIDME pic.twitter.com/txE9ATyGSL
— Portland Police (@PortlandPolice) August 3, 2020
On Sunday, Day 65, there was a “peaceful gathering” in front of the federal courthouse, which was described this way: “The gathering spilled out into the streets surrounding the park. Vehicular traffic was unable to get through for several hours.”
On Day 64 there was a riot in a lovely old Portland park.
… [A] group of about two hundred marched from Laurelhurst Park, blocking traffic lanes … shined bright lights at Portland Police officers standing outside the building, directed lasers at the officers and eventually began throwing glass bottles at them.
A person in the crowd threw a glass jar or bottle filled with paint, which struck a Portland Police officer in the head.
People with “press” written on their outer garments repeatedly threw objects at officers. Portland Police continued moving the crowd to the west and south.
This was supposedly three days after the federal “troops,” as Oregon Democrats derisively called the Federal Protective Service police, began a “phased withdrawal” from Portland.
Related: Jonathan Turley’s Right to Ask if Antifa is the ‘Greatest Movement Against Free Speech in America.’ We’ve Got Proof.
That night, Day 63 of the riots, “protesters” in a “mass gathering” tried to set the federal building on fire again.
At times people lit small fires along sidewalks on surrounding blocks and attempted to light fires inside the fence at the federal courthouse. Others in the crowd put the fires out. Some people climbed on or near the fence at the federal courthouse, but others admonished them and they got down. People could be heard in the crowd repeating that the protest was to remain peaceful.
The larger group broke in to smaller groups and over the next hour or two people dispersed without police interaction.
There was a “mass gathering” the next night as well, in which Portlanders were told to “avoid the area” for their own safety.
This has all been going on since May 28, following the police-involved death of George Floyd. Federal officers were deployed over the July 4th weekend.
The only thing different is that now Portland rioters have taken their riots elsewhere in town. They know that the federal officers are still there waiting for them if the newly engaged Oregon State Troopers and mayor-led Portland Police Bureau officers fail to do their jobs again.