If you are looking for a sign, this is it. This is where the crazy roller coaster we have all been on starts flying up in preparation of even crazier twists and loops. Not only are we all enduring the normalized madness of the Trump regime; it has turned up to 11. Children are being pulled away from their families; and placed into warehouses where they are starved, drugged, and robbed of their dignity. Their suffering is transformed into massive amounts of wealth for corporations that weaseled their way into lucrative contracts. Someone has to sell the government the infant formula to allegedly feed the babies that were snatched away from their mothers. Someone is leasing the buildings these children are being inhumanely detained at, and lining their pockets with profit caused by owning square footage where torture occurs.
Theintercept.com
It will only get worse from here. People of nearly every political stripe have been screaming that the U.S. will build concentration camps and America will go the way of Nazi Germany. And look where we have arrived! We are on the same path as Nazi Germany, this is an indisputable fact now. We still have the option to turn around and reach a different destination though. But will YOU take the wheel? That is absolutely right, it is up to every single last one of YOUS to turn the tide of history. And do it now and do it as hard as you possibly can.
The protests of the past few months must escalate as the violence the state inflicts on us all escalates. Debating the other side and appeals to reason are becoming more and more ineffective as the gluttons feeding off the trough of the prison-industrial complex insist on gorging themselves on more wealth. Enough is enough, feeding time is over for the pigs. Cut off their supply at the source: Occupy.
OccupyICE PDX has been a roaring success. In less than a week, residents of the area shut down an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement office by force. It was not that difficult either. One night, less than 1% of the population of Portland made signs, set up tents and taped the doors to the ICE Office shut. Police came to escort the employees out, and after they had vacated, the activists simply built up the barricades further. Then it all stopped. One small thread in the rope choking all of us snapped. Now it is up to all of YOUS to make the rest of the threads snap and end the stranglehold ICE has on all human being. Become unmoveable, and ungovernable.
Around midday on June 3rd, 2018; comrades of many stripes came to gather in Chapman Square. We made short work of adorning the park with banners and decorations, handmade by the skilled Antifascist artisans in the days prior. Signs proclaiming the “All Cats Are Beautiful”/ACAB and various other anti-police slogans. It was dry, but with the typical Cascadia grey veil of the clouds. Snacks and water were set out for attendees and anyone who happened to be hungry or thirsty.
An unnamed man, henceforth to be known as The Cop Respecter was quickly agitated at the banners displaying scorn for police brutality and oppression and responded by retrieving as many newspapers with photos of cops smiling as he could carry. The Cop Respecter stood across the street, loudly informing us that the cops were smiling in the pictures he found, which somehow made us in the wrong.
The cop respecter, showing us his newspapers.
Our rejection of his beliefs caused him to become further agitated and began to yell even more about the smiling cops in his newspapers somehow absolving the police of criticism. As he was fuming and ranting about how we did not like the pictures of smiling cops, a group of young teenagers with skateboards passed by him on their way to vacate Terry Schrunk Plaza. His agitation turned into rage at the sight of young people enjoying their Sunday and he began to chase them, eventually grabbing one of their skateboards before being apprehended by the police.
More people gathered in Chapman Square, prompting the Portland police to raise their hackles and start to prowl around like a scavenging animal.
Two Portland police officers on their way to get heckled.
Eventually, a pair of them; armed and decked out in bulletproof vests underneath their shirts and shadowed by riot-ready police a few blocks away slunked into the plaza. Quickly they were met with a contingent, carrying the Anti-Nazi Cop Banner and chanting anti-police slogans such as “All Cops Are Bastards” (a classic). With an LRAD not too far behind them, the Portland police officers attempted to assure us that all they wanted was a peaceful demonstration and that they were there to “protect and serve”. When asked who and what they would protect and serve the police declined to answer, the scrutiny and loud criticism increased.
Here is a selection of some (not all), of the inspiring speeches that were given during the earlier part of the day:
Quance Haye’s Grandmother speaks about her experience of losing a loved one to police brutality, finding no solace from the system that murdered her grandson, and the warmth of comradeship.
Gregory McKelvey gave a speech centering around themes of left unity and encouraged us all to see past our minor differences.
As the speeches that were given began to wind down, we noticed Federal Police making some sort of attempt to fence off Terry Schrunk Plaza, where the Patriot Prayer “Freedom” walk was set to take place. It did not take much time or effort for the thin perforated sheets of orange plastic to be sabotaged and penetrated by activists. Nevertheless, the federal officers persisted; and continued to set up some very ineffective and permeable checkpoints for weapons. Riot cops had staged at various points throughout the surrounding neighborhood, hanging off of SUVs and vans marked “DHS”. Patriot Prayer crowd seems slim, at the most two dozen heads.
A very permeable barrier and an even weaker showing from Patriot Prayer…
As their fortress was being walled in by thin orange plastic and a card table, some street preachers took a bold stand in the center of the snake pit. Donning their finest iron-on decorated homophobic shirts and boldest choices in Mad Max cosplay they valiantly stood against gravity, holding up a white supremacist flag.
Some of the few participants who came to Joey’s walk-a-thon.
Not long after, some elderly men shuffled in carrying toy cameras, wearing their finest patriotic themed costumes and sat down on the steps in Terry Schrunk Plaza.
Shortly after the “based grandpas” waddled in Patriot Prayer and some “Proud” Boys. Patriot Prayer claimed they would be there to celebrate John “Tiny” Toese’s supposed return to Samoa. Of course, Patriot Prayer is really just a front for the Proud Boys, a hyper-nationalist SPLC-certified right-wing hate group that has a documented history of unprovoked violence against anyone that disagrees with them, allegedly in the name of free speech. In fact, in order to advance in rank, the so-called ‘Proud Boys’ have to injure a “Liberal Antifa” protestor (which unfortunately in practice often turns out to be an innocent and uninvolved bystander), and anyone that isn’t a boot licking Trump fanatic. They can “Gain a rank” by stealing a protesters flag, or commit other sorts of transgressions against people or property. The entire organization implies violence, and this is the only language they speak; the ‘Proud Boys’ had come for a conversation.
Some of the members of Patriot Prayer who came to attend this allegedly peaceful march, one wearing a shirt that says “Just fight Me”, another person wearing disguises and a helmet with a Gadsden Flag sticker on it.Andrew Arbow learning its much harder to be a tough guy in real life.
In even shorter measure, fistfights broke out. The earliest agitator was a local twitter nuisance who had finally consumed enough liquor to propel him out of his cave and into the blinding light filtering through the clouds. He would, later on, claim to be acting out a “character” (a la Alex Jones) called “Stoner Brony” that quite curiously resembled his actual personality. His strange quips about people grocery shopping habits and relationships to their parents cost him his hat, and the sight of his ballcap flying through the air was enough to fill him with impotent rage. Screeching out patriotic verses repeatedly, he charged into the bloc to retrieve his novelty ballcap and inflict as much damage to people as his skeletal arms could muster three times. Every single attempt was met with an even greater resistive force.
Even more, people gathered in Chaman Square; including, a brass band providing bardic inspiration and other morale boosts. Across the street in Terry Schrunk Plaza; Patriot Prayer had amassed a small bit more than a dozen people, massively dwarfed by the much larger black bloc. Tiny arrived later on with notable child rapist Demetrius Cooper and various other violent and abusive men wearing varying degrees of dirt bike protection gear. In the background, the marching band played on underneath the grey veil coating the sky. Caleb “Sketti” Stephens showed up, his suit deformed by the airsoft vest worn underneath (and his soft, shitty body), but quickly had to leave, presumably due to the weapons ban in Terry Schrunk that Patriot Prayer failed to adhere to multiple times throughout the day.
Another fight broke out; when in true Nazi-sympathizing fashion, Patriot Prayer got upset enough at the banner denouncing Nazi Cop Mark Kruger they felt the need to steal it. Several bulky pseudo-goliaths, including Tiny Toese, converged on a few activists who were holding the sign and began an attempt to pummel them. While the antifascists did respond to this attack, it quickly became clear that Patriot Prayer seemed content to engage in friendly fire for a few moments. Tiny lay on the ground, surrounded by his friends and nearly got his own head bashed in. The Patriot Prayer member who stole the anti-Nazi banner out of disagreement with is attempted to use the dowel used to hold it as a weapon and jump back into the melee but was stopped by Portland Police. More antifascists than police and fascists combined quickly approached the police tape meant to serve as a barrier between federal and non-federal property. Upon realizing that they were
Tiny and his friends being initially denied re-entry to the Plaza after engaging in blatantly violent behavior.
dangerously outnumbered, Tiny and his friends tried to scramble back under the police tape, and due to the fact that they had just been blatantly engaging in the violent and illegal behavior (some of them using improvised weapons) and were trying to re-enter federal property; were kicked out of the park and back into the fray of antifascists defending their community. Mercifully, they were allowed back into the plaza after some time. Tiny complained about his perceived unfair treatment by the police (when in fact he was simply not receiving the preferential treatment he felt entitled to due to experiencing in the past) into a camera, tears of frustration and pepper spray streaking down his cheeks. He launched into an Alex-Jones style conspiracy rant, blaming the government and “higher-ups” of the Portland City government for the actions of activists who were largely anti-government.
In what seemed like years packed into a second, things changed. An alleged member of Oregon Patriot Response and definitely Patriot Prayer affiliated man and people who claim to be his family began the combat when he swung one of two bats he brought with him at the head of an unarmed antifascist while his daughters waddled across the grass in high heels. The rest of the antifascist contigent, and even some liberals jumped into action to respond to the attack on their comrade. The fascist was quickly doused in mace and scurried back to his friends to have 2% milk poured in his eyes, leaving his daughters and wife behind with the antifascists, who allowed them to leave.
This, however, was only the appetizer to a very long course of intense action and skirmishes for several hours, that would turn a few blocks of downtown Portland into something resembling a war zone. Patriot Prayer, proud boys, and other dogs of the same hide began to scream and wave their flags in impotent rage. A few antifascists crossed the street chuckling at the wailing vermin on the other block, and more followed behind them. This caused a great deal of panic and alarm for the vastly outnumbered and weaker Patriot Prayer/Proud Boy affiliated group. In their panic, they began to discharge fire extinguishers into a crowd of people.
Some pointless speeches and platitudes were given by mostly Tiny, who no one could hear because of our stereo system, brass and drum section, and chanting. Patriot Prayer decides to march. Riot cops block off the street immediately behind them, forcing the bloc to splinter.
Proudly waving their “Don’t Tread on Me” flag behind those who do the treading; right before the first attempt at marching started.
The majority of the group sticks together and decides to head down an adjacent street in the same direction to follow them. At certain points, there were construction areas where police couldn’t enter or have a viewpoint to observe. At this point, Patriot Prayer members attack protesters and attempt to threaten them with sticks, one of them swinging a motorcycle helmet after trying to corner a crowd they were vastly outnumbered by under some scaffolding, where they believed they would be free from cameras and consequences. A protester in a wheelchair is almost hit, and the Proud Boys continue their tradition of ganging up on singular people. This tactic continues to not work well for them.
After several more aborted attempts to start marching (during one a member of Patriot Prayer was taken into custody by Portland Police Bureau for carrying concealed
A Patriot Prayer member being detained by law enforcement for his noncompliance with the “No Weapons” rule.
weapons into Terry Schrunk Plaza) the Patriot Prayer/Proud Boy contingent began to march down 3rd avenue. After some time they managed to traverse an entire city block before they felt the need to assault a counterprotest. Two large men, one wielding a flagpole as a weapon, bore down on a smaller antifascist, grabbing them from behind by the neck and swinging them to the ground. Still being outnumbered, antifascists swarmed on the two men and bore down on the rest of the fascists, creating a human barrier from the altercation escalating further for the moment.
A man from the antifascist contingent jumped in front and yelled at right wingers, reminding them that it was not OK to touch people like that, using his body as a physical barrier to damage. Right wingers were inevitably pulled back, deploying bear spray as they retreated away.
The Patriot Prayer group had quite a taste that day for non-lethal deterrents intended for animals, and gorging themselves on the effects. Later on in the day, they would deploy more of it, this time at point blank range of several unaffiliated photographers.
Member of the Patriot Prayer group spraying bear spray onto a group of unaffiliated photographers.
The cloud of gas quickly spread to engulf most of Terry Schrunk Plaza, as the sprayer did not account for the fact that in the outdoors, wind can blow things in unintended directions. Both sides were affected and retreated.
retreat video here
The antifascists backed off to Chapman Square, upwind of the fog of spray; while the fascists retreated back through the spray. Trained antifascist medics rapidly dispensed anti-irritants to those affected and offered other forms of first aid to those who had gotten scuffed. Thanks to their training, selflessness, and diligence the antifascists recuperated faster than the fascists and regrouped.
Enter a caption
Patriot Prayer came equipped with bottles of milk, like the kind you would get from a gas station. As they had also been running back through the cloud of bear spray dispensed by one of their own, and using an entirely ineffective method of first aid rendered by untrained amateurs it took them longer to get back on their feet.
We return to the Terry Shrunk/Chapman Square blocks, with community protesters on Chapman side and right wingers on Shrunk. More yelling and jeering as more and more Proud Boys skitter off like roaches. Also like roaches, not all of them made it to their destinations unharmed.
The bloc circles around, outnumbering both cops and patriot prayer by an increasingly large amount. Rinse and repeat, the bloc escorted the right wingers through the city yelling insults and fending off attacks all the way. Cops occasionally step in and rough up a community member for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and drag them away.
The fascists get more and more nervous and start trying to slink away. The fight is dying down and Joey, Tiny, and all their friends are standing huddled in a corner of Terry Schrunk with their metaphorical tail between their legs. In a few moments though they would get a second wind, and tried to launch another assault that ended in a game of capture the flag. Again, Patriot Prayer was defeated.
Back at Shrunk/Chapman, cops are heavily staged at this point creating L shaped formations on streets across from the action, occasionally attempting to kettle protesters, who are always on the move, avoiding being flanked. Finally, as a last-ditch effort, Gibson and the Piss Boys make way towards toward the waterfront, in an attempt to bring their violence to the Portland City Fair, people in Patriot Prayer garb starting confrontations along the way in half-assed attempts at picking off the antifascists, who were continuing to increasingly outnumber them. They are confronted and shamed, as riot cops converge on the area to protect Patriot Prayer; again, at a cost to citizens of Portland.
Soon Joey had fewer and fewer buddies, and the anti-fascists were not shrinking in numbers. As you can see for yourself, Gibson became quite desperate
Gibson and his cronies were allowed to leave unharmed but visibly shaken. Again he was outnumbered, and his gang was bashed back. The antifascists filtered out through the fair without any further harm and made their ways back home, to ready themselves for the next encounter.
Below is a series of images and captions, in chronological order, that show Tiny, of Joey Gibson’s Patriot Prayer, antagonizing someone, shoving them, and throwing the first punch of the day, while being on the complete opposite end of the area where they were gathered. The area this took place in included bystanders, and a brass-band, where a child was present, well away from their “freedom rally.” All photos are captioned. Please follow left to right.
A large, slob of a man approaches a bystander, on the opposite side of Terry Schrunk, from where PP was, and confronts a man, in front of a Brass band.
An extra from The Chronicles of Riddick decides to post up in the middle of it, to attempt intimidate.
Mark McGuire’s fascist cousin shows up in a baseball helmet, complete with standard-issue “Don’t Tread on Me” sticker. Fuck Antifa guy #2 cracks his knuckles.
A man wearing a steel helmet follows Joey Gibson in tow, into the fray, right behind Tiny.
Tiny points into the pit of Terry Schrunk, as he approaches an individual standing by.
Joey Gibson in tow, Tiny moves up, and forcefully tries to walk into the person.
Tiny puts his hands out first, and shoves the person backwards, into a crowd of bystanders.
Tiny starts pushing the person back, into a banner. Joey still in tow.
Tiny grabs for the person’s clothing, and attempts to jerk him around.
Tiny cocks his right arm back, to punch.
Tiny throws a right-hook, throwing the first punch of the day.
He strikes the person.
He then throws the person backwards, pushing them to the ground.
On 04/x/18, a team of antifascist community members visited the neighborhood of self described Neo-Nazi Alexander Becker (Once known as ‘Mike Gainer’), and distributed numerous fliers warning the community of this threat. Becker is a well documented member of the SPLC designated hate group “The Daily Stormer”, an offshoot of the notable white supremacist forum “Stormfront.” As members of our community, we feel it’s our duty to draw attention to the existential threat brought on by white supremacist extremists. Other known members of the Stormfront community include Dylan Roof, who staged a mass shooting on a Congregation in an attempt to ignite a “race war”. This is the ultimate goal of white supremacists like Becker, as they seek to disrupt normal life, for the community, in exchange for acts of political violence, having been documented heavily in the past, and spreading of hateful propaganda.
The Alexander Beckers, Dylan Roofs and Jeremy Christians of the world cannot be ignored. These white supremacists must be seen as the existential threat that they pose to society which has an obligation to defend itself.
Below is a tag cloud for events documented by Rose City Antifa, explaining numerous instances of Becker’s actions.
Another fight broke out; when in true Nazi-sympathizing fashion, Patriot Prayer got upset enough at the banner denouncing Nazi Cop Mark Kruger they felt the need to steal it. Several bulky pseudo-goliaths, including Tiny Toese, converged on a few activists who were holding the sign and began an attempt to pummel them. While the antifascists did respond to this attack, it quickly became clear that Patriot Prayer seemed content to engage in friendly fire for a few moments. Tiny lay on the ground, surrounded by his friends and nearly got his own head bashed in. The Patriot Prayer member who stole the anti-Nazi banner out of disagreement with is attempted to use the dowel used to hold it as a weapon and jump back into the melee but was stopped by Portland Police. More antifascists than police and fascists combined quickly approached the police tape meant to serve as a barrier between federal and non-federal property. Upon realizing that they were
At certain points, there were construction areas where police couldn’t enter or have a viewpoint to observe. At this point, Patriot Prayer members attack protesters and attempt to threaten them with sticks, one of them swinging a motorcycle helmet after trying to corner a crowd they were vastly outnumbered by under some scaffolding, where they believed they would be free from cameras and consequences. A protester in a wheelchair is almost hit, and the Proud Boys continue their tradition of ganging up on singular people. This tactic continues to not work well for them.
