Portland Demonstrators Clash with Federal Agents After Mayor Stirs Up Dissension

Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler seems like he is willing to let his city burn to the ground in order to further his feud with President Trump.

ANTIFA and other extremist groups have been wreaking havoc in the city for almost two months. The city’s Democratic leaders’ underwhelming response to increasingly aggressive tactics emboldened these groups. Vandalism and looting have cost local businesses $23 million dollars since the city devolved into chaos. With this, violence continues to skyrocket. Despite the mob rule terrorizing local businesses and citizens, Ted Wheeler has done next to nothing. Additionally, the city council continues to promote defunding the police.

Time for Action

After months of watching from the sidelines, federal officials decided the time for action had come. Mobs were targeting US courthouse and other federal landmarks in the city. Therefore, federal agents deployed to protect the government’s property. However, Wheeler and the right-leaning media have seized on the order as some kind of fascist affront to the city’s civil liberty.

Wheeler blamed Trump for the deployment and criticized him for instigating unrest by deploying federal agents. Meanwhile, Wheeler himself is making no visible effort to diffuse the situation. In fact, he seems to be agitating it. He released a fiery video condemning the presence of federal law enforcement and defending the protests. The increasingly Trump-bashing mainstream media didn’t hesitate to throw its full support behind Wheeler’s take.

Portland Demonstrations Against Federal Agents

TRUMP TO SEND LAW ENFORCEMENT TO OTHER CITIES: Federal officers descended upon Portland clashing with demonstrators crowded in front of the city’s U.S. courthouse, and Pres. Trump says he plans to send federal agents to other cities – the co-hosts discuss. https://t.co/ItAdYA6XMH pic.twitter.com/fQiCWvuTDX

— The View (@TheView) July 21, 2020

Within days of Wheeler’s public rant, a stirred-up group of protesters took to the streets on Monday to demonstrate against the presence of federal agents. Over 2,000 people gathered outside of the federal courthouse on Tuesday to harass federal agents stationed there. The protests started off peacefully but, when the peaceful protestors left the scene, the agitators began to emerge.

By midnight the violence began to escalate. The mob began encroaching on police boundaries and attacking the federal courthouse. The aggression prompted officers to deploy tear gas in order to back down the crowd. Portland police tweeted an warning to residents, “People are throwing projectiles and are armed with clubs, hammers and other weapons. Avoid the area.” The violence continued well into the morning hours, but either side showed no signs of backing down.

The mounting frustration against federal agents seems misdirected. The mayor had two months to get the streets under control and failed, miserably. Wheeler and the Portland city council were either unwilling or unable to protect federal property in the city and enforce rule of law, so the federal government was forced to intervene.

Media Coverage

Most of the mainstream media coverage tries to portray the Portland situation as peaceful protestors demonstrating their constitutional right, but they ignore and undermine any reports to the contrary.

Portland’s own Deputy Police Chief, Chris Davis, said an “agitator corps” of violent groups were responsible for most of the chaos in the city. “There’s a very big difference between protests and the kind of mayhem that we see every night,” he said. “You’re going to hear me make a lot of effort not to refer to what we’re talking about here as protests because protests and this are two different things.”

Fear of racial backlash has cowed the city’s Democratic leadership into total submission. Photographs of Portland are reminiscent of the 80’s cult classic, “Escape from New York”. Various reports describe masked marauders patrolling the city nightly, often terrorizing the public, disrupting traffic, and vandalizing both private and public property.

Effects on Portland

Meanwhile, crime is skyrocketing in the city. There was a 380% increase in shootings this month compared to last year. Many believe the city’s efforts to defund and restrict police have emboldened criminals and directly contributed to the uptick in crime.

Local businesses and residents have a right to safety, security, and rule of law. Portland cannot allow radical groups to operate with impunity, regardless of their political belief. ANTIFA and other radical-left groups are skillfully orchestrating the chaos and the Trump-bashing media is eating it up. It’s incomprehensible how the city and the media can justify this overtly criminal behavior as an inevitable symptom of peaceful protests. Instead of stirring up resentment against the lawful presence of federal agents, Wheeler might want to consider thanking the law enforcement officers who are risking their lives to bring his city under control.

Featured Image Credit: Portland Police Bureau

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Featured Image by Naval Surface Warriors/Flickr