| As federal police forces remained in Portland, Oregon in the last week of July and are also being sent to Chicago, Seattle, Albuquerque, Kansas City and likely other cities, the broad resistance movement that has persisted now for more than two months following the racist police killing of George Floyd responded with yet larger and more determined actions. Demonstrations in support of Portland and demands against racist police brutality and impunity and for equality took place in many cities and towns the weekend of July 25-26. These included Oakland and Los Angeles, California; Chicago, Illinois; Cleveland, Ohio; Boston, Massachusetts; New York City, New York; Louisville, Kentucky; Omaha, Nebraska; Richmond, Virginia; Aurora, Colorado and Austin, Texas. Actions have continued since then in many places, including Portland where many thousands of people are nightly standing up to tear gassing, rubber bullets, flash bang grenades and other violence by heavily armed federal, state and local police forces. A Wall of Vets is also a prominent feature of the resistance movement in Portland. KPTV out of Portland reports: "The Wall of Vets says their mission and message is simple: they support peaceful protesters and are standing as a shield between them and those they say are violating those rights. "We’ve seen the Wall of Moms, the Wall of Dads, and now, the Wall of Vets – a group of U.S. military veterans standing together as a human wall to protect peaceful protesters. “We’re here as progressive vets and we haven’t had a voice before and I think we’re unified now to stand for what we feel is right,” said Tessa Terry, a veteran and the chapter organizer for the Wall of Vets in Portland. She says focus needs to be turned back to the Black Lives Matter movement. “It’s upsetting to see what’s happening to the citizens and even more upsetting that the federal troops are here,” she said. Her husband LeShan Terry, who is also a veteran, joins her and the other veterans out at the protests every night. “It’s to show that it’s not violent on our side and we’re being agitated against and the Wall of Veterans who stand at parade rest is showing that you are shooting at us and we are not violent,” he said. The two along with their fellow veterans have been taking the tear gas for more than 50 nights." The conflicts between federal and state authorities continue to express themselves. Oregon's Governor Kate Brown said some federal forces would begin withdrawing July 30, such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Border Patrol's special tactical team BORTAC, but despite appeals for their removal, many others will remain. Department of Homeland Security head Chad Wolf said, "The Department will continue to maintain our current, augmented federal law enforcement personnel in Portland until we are assured that the Hatfield Federal Courthouse and other federal properties will no longer be attacked." July 29 saw the largest deployment of federal forces against demonstrators in Portland, including not only at the federal courthouse but marching in from two directions a block away. The federal forces were met by more than 5,000 people -- youth, workers, moms, veterans -- all calling for an end to the federal and local police violence and for their demands for change that favours the people to be fulfilled. Their level of defiance has also increased as means are developed to contend with the policing agencies. "We came out here dressed in T-shirts and twirling Hula-Hoops and stuff, and they started gassing us, so we came back with respirators, and they started shooting us, so we came back with vests, and they started aiming for the head, so we started wearing helmets, and now they call us terrorists," one organizer said. Hockey sticks and tennis rackets have been brought into use to swat tear gas canisters back over the fence, umbrellas to ward off the gas and leaf blowers to disperse it. While the people face brutal violence with nightly tear gassing, armed federal forces in riot gear and masks are fully protected behind an eight-foot black metal fence erected on July 22. All of this violence is meant to disperse and intimidate people, and also disrupt efforts by demonstrators to themselves affirm human rights to food, health care and to conscience and assembly. "We're not holding our city hostage. We're saying we are the city," one organizer pointed out. In Portland, the people have their own trained medics, including their own emergency vehicle: the "Breonna Taylor Memorial Medical Utility Vehicle" -- named for the Black emergency medical technician (EMT) killed by Louisville, Kentucky police earlier this year. It is a MASH unit on wheels, built in the back of a used truck by a collective of Portland nurses and EMTs. It is equipped with a defibrillator, helmets and bottles of saline solution and water to counter teargas. The collective decided to start a mobile clinic that could park at the edge of protests so they could render aid to those injured within minutes and, if necessary, drive them quickly to a nearby hospital or ambulance, something they have done repeatedly for those hit by rubber bullets. Medical care is provided for free, a demand of demonstrators all across the country, especially given the COVID-19 crisis and government failures on that front. Seattle and other cities have also established such emergency mobile medical services. In addition, the people have organized for food to be provided for free, all secured through their own efforts. Portland's Riot Ribs, for example, with a dozen grills and regular community donations has provided burgers and ribs throughout the actions -- and repeatedly withstood the efforts of both federal and local police to disrupt them and shut them down. They have withstood being tear gassed and having their food and equipment confiscated. There is also the Black Lives Matter snack van which provides food bars, water bottles and apples -- all donated -- for protesters to take free of charge. People are also providing laptops to help people filing for unemployment payments. "Circles of chairs" have been set up devoted to "free conversations," discussions and to provide sanctuary to artists and muralists. Demonstrators describe them as a sanctuary of love and compassion. "When you get to the energy out here, the things they're chanting, it makes me emotional, it makes me feel wanted and appreciated and respected. It makes me feel like, for the first time in my life, I matter more than just physically," one African American said. People across the country are organizing for yet more united actions, undaunted by both federal and local police violence and efforts to criminalize them. There is growing consciousness that existing governing arrangements at all levels are both dysfunctional and harmful. In Portland this is indicated by the agreement to have state police now work under federal police while also taking command over local police. Such a command structure is what the federal government is after while it has no intention of stopping the violence of police forces at all levels. But the millions of people in action enjoy broad and growing support. They are demanding a new direction for the country, one that favours the majority, not the self-serving private interests of a tiny minority. The resistance is giving expression to the necessity of the times, for people's empowerment and a people's democracy and there is every indication that it will persist. It is this united effort and striving for arrangements that affirm the human right to be and the stand that fighting as one for the rights of all is the way forward that most frightens ruling elites and why they have unleashed so many policing agencies to wipe it out. It is clear to all that the brutality and violence against the people are unleashed repeatedly, wave upon wave, to exhaust the people and wipe the resistance out. But they cannot wipe the resistance out because the will of the people to be prevails. This great moment of reckoning has within it the emergence of a democracy of the people's own making, where they decide what takes place, not those who govern from above and want the people to submit to conditions and an authority which are unacceptable to them. Haut de page Protesters Secure Restraining Order and Calls to Sanction Federal Forces Part of the resistance movement in the United States is to file lawsuits against local and federal policing agencies for their excessive use of force and attacks on journalists and legal observers. Organizations in Portland recently filed a lawsuit against Portland police and federal forces. On July 23, U.S. District Court Judge Michael Simon barred federal law enforcement officers from using force against journalists and legal observers. These observers have been documenting demonstrations and the excessive use of force by police, including the use of tear gas, pepper balls and spray, rubber bullets and "bean bag" munitions -- both cause serious harm and can be deadly -- beatings, and abductions. The temporary, 14-day restraining order also said reporters, photographers and legal observers were exempt from any directives issued to the general public to disperse from areas where protests are taking place. Judge Simon is also requiring that a paper or digital copy of his restraining order be provided to every federal law enforcement officer and agent in Portland, as well as to all who may be sent to the city in the future. He can also extend the order indefinitely. The judge had previously issued a similar order to Portland police as part of the same lawsuit and has now extended it to federal forces -- something supported by city officials. A lawyer for the city said "federal forces have been moving off federal property and they've been using force that the records [show] was not proportionate and not justified under the circumstances." The more general use of excessive force by local and federal forces was not addressed by the ruling. Another lawsuit, still pending, addresses the "overly abusive action" by federal forces against demonstrators. On July 28, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Oregon, acting on behalf of the alternative newspaper Portland Mercury and 10 individual plaintiffs including journalists and legal activists, said federal law enforcement officers in Portland were violating the terms of the restraining order. The ACLU said that videos, photographs and witness accounts showed that federal officers shot three people, clearly identified as legal observers, in the head, neck and chest with rubber bullets or bean bag munitions. Federal forces also "purposefully" tear-gassed and dispersed journalists. They asked the court to order federal agents identified as attackers to be held in contempt, named, ordered to appear in court and banned from participating in any future armed operations in Oregon. To date this has not occurred. Justice Department lawyers claimed the attacks on demonstrations were needed to "combat hardened rioters" and those against journalists and legal observers were "'unintended consequences' of crowd control." The judge rejected this saying, "Plaintiffs' declarations describe situations including that they were identifiable as press, were not engaging in unlawful activity or protesting, were not standing near protesters, and yet were subject to violence by federal agents." He said evidence provided by the government did not support the use of force against journalists and legal observers. During the court hearing, the judge pressed the Justice Department on whether there is any evidence that people identifying themselves as journalists or legal observers had injured any federal officials or damaged federal property. Their lawyer said the government had not produced any such evidence. Another federal judge based in Portland rejected a request from Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum to require federal officials to identify themselves when arresting or detaining suspects and to refrain from detaining people without probable cause. The judge said that Oregon had no standing to ask for the restraining order. This means the merits of the case were not addressed only that the Oregon Attorney General is not the person who can make such a request for activities taking place in Portland. Federal forces continue to defy the courts and local and state officials to make this restraining order in Portland ineffective, like an earlier one placing a limited ban on the use of tear gas. U.S. Attorney General William Barr and President Trump continue to defend the violence and brutality, not only in Portland but in cities across the country, encouraging the disregard for court orders. They adhere to the imperialist dictum that Might Makes Right to secure presidential control over policing forces at all levels, federal, state and local. Cease and Desist Order for Fence Erected by Federal Forces As a further indication of the continuing conflicts among state, local and federal forces, Portland's Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) filed a cease and desist order on July 23, calling on federal agents to remove the eight-foot fence they erected around the federal court house. The order said it was put up illegally and that it impedes the city's public right of way. This includes "one of the busiest bike routes in the United States." The agency added that it has already begun assessing a maximum fine of $500 for every 15 minutes the fence obstructs the street, which amounts to hundreds of thousands of dollars in penalties. They also said they would remove the fence, though at present it still remains in place. Commissioner Chloe Eudaly, who oversees PBOT, said, "This fence was constructed without permission or permits on public property, and it is both an abuse of public space and a threat to the travelling public. This illegal action will not be tolerated in our community." It was "shameful that unnamed, unannounced federal agents would illegally erect a wall to hide from the people they are sworn to serve, and I have instructed PBOT to closely monitor the federal occupiers' actions for additional violations," Commissioner Eudaly said. (Voice of Revolution) |