A much-anticipated “alt-right” rally in Portland, Oregon has ended in police using stun grenades and teargas against the most militant segment of a counter-protest.
At 3.30pm, police began pushing antifascist, or “antifa”, activists out of Chapman square, just across from the rally in Terry Schrunk plaza, in downtown Portland. Officers discharged grenades and gas as missiles were thrown. Portland police said on Twitter that they had closed the park due to “criminal behavior” including the use of “bricks, mortar and other projectiles”.
As the antifascists were pushed out, “alt-right” activists interrupted their schedule of speakers to rush to the edge of Schrunk plaza and taunt them. Police said they had confiscated makeshift weapons and shields from protesters in Chapman square, and said that at around 2pm protesters there launched marbles and other projectiles towards Schrunk plaza.
Hours before, as the opposing activists gathered, tensions in the city were high, a little over a week after two men were killed and one wounded in a stabbing on city transportation.
Jeremy Christian, 35, was charged in the attack, in which Rick Best, 53, and Taliesin Myrddin Namkai Meche, 23, were killed after they intervened to help two young women who were the target of racial abuse. Christian was found to have expressed far-right views and to have attended a similar “free speech” rally in the city in April.
Portland mayor Ted Wheeler sought to block Sunday’s event, while on Saturday the leader of the Oath Keepers militia organisation told the Guardian that members of his group were on their way to the city, to support and if necessary defend the rightwing protesters.
In the event, the “alt-right” rally was surrounded on three sides by separate counter-protests. Antifa activists occupied Chapman square, to the south of the plaza. Portland United Against Hate, organized by 70 community and political groups, occupied the forecourt and sidewalk outside city hall to the west. To the east, a protest organized by labor groups occupied the street outside a federal building.
At the city hall rally, Seemab Hussein of the Oregon Council on Islamic Relations, a rally sponsor, said he wasn’t surprised to see an “alt-right” gathering in the city.
“It’s part of Portland,” he said, “it’s part of Oregon, it’s part of society.” He added that he didn’t take seriously disavowals of the racist politics of older far-right movements.
“I don’t think they actually moved away from that,” he said. “It’s the same ball of yarn – the hate, the prejudice, the violence. It just finds a new victim. If it’s not Muslims, it’s immigrants.” He was heartened, he said, to see so many Portlanders show up to oppose the rally.
All told, there were some 3,000 counter-protesters and only a few hundred at the “free speech” rally, where Kyle “Based Stickman” Chapman, who became a movement hero after physically attacking antifascists in Berkeley, California, addressed the crowd. So did Joey Gibson, the organizer of the event. On the fringes, Pat “Based Spartan” Washington, a so-called “alt-right” celebrity, held an impromptu press conference.
“I believe in freedom of speech,” he said. “Our speakers have a right to say what they want, and not be exposed to this shit across the street. I am definitely willing to use violence to make sure my family is safe and my patriot family is safe. But do I want it? Not necessarily. Until antifa learns not to use violence … God, I hate them. I look over there and I just want to smash.”
Members of the Oath Keepers and another “patriot” militia group, the Three Percenters, were present, identifiable by their insignia. Also present were members of the Proud Boys, associated with Vice founder Gavin McInnes and identifiable by their uniform Fred Perry T-shirts, and members of Warriors for Freedom, a group led by Gibson.
Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes gave a late afternoon speech, referring to growing links between established rightwing groups and internet subcultures.
“We just went to Boston not too long ago,” Rhodes said, “and it was run by 4chan kids who put the rally on. They were standing there with pale skin, ’cause they don’t go outside too much, but they had homemade shields in their hands … and they were there. It’s my job as a paratrooper veteran to teach those kids everything I know.”
Tusitala “Tiny” Toese, a member of Warriors for Freedom, told the Guardian he was present to “stand for free speech”.
“If you look all around America,” he said, “they’re trying to take away free speech silently.” He also said that the group had ejected Jeremy Christian from the 29 April Portland rally. “We heard what he was doing,” he said, “we heard he was doing [Nazi] salutes, and we said we don’t like that, so we told him, you gotta leave.”
Earlier in the day, as protesters gathered, two members of the Rose City Antifa group, wearing masks, spoke to the Guardian. “We’ve got hopes for what we want to happen and we’re preparing for the worst,” one said, adding that their goals were “being here, being a visible opposition”.
“These guys are mostly not interested in free speech, they’re interested in fighting us,” the activist said. “If they come over here, we’re going to respond in self-defense, but our plan is not to take that path. Our main goal is the defense of the community, and to reveal their actions for what they are: fascist street violence.”
At one point Brian Fife, an “alt-right” protester, walked up to Chapman square in an attempt to speak. He was surrounded and drowned out with air horns. Earlier, on the grass at Schrunk plaza, Fife, who said he ran a small business in Salem, Oregon, said Jeremy Christian “did everything right up until the point he started killing people”.
“I do not support killing people,” he said, “I don’t think anyone does. But calling out the changing elements of our culture, I think that’s something I wish more of us would do.”
As police and DHS officers dressed in riot gear kept the groups apart, the rally passed without full-blooded confrontation between protesters. Police also announced that any movement between Chapman Square and Schrunk Plaza would be considered a criminal act. The plaza was cordoned off with yellow tape and police SUVs partially blocked traffic. Before the decision to clear Chapman Square, a small number of arrests were made.
