'Little Beirut' legacy: 21 of the most memorable protests in Portland history
Updated May 18, 2019; Posted
Apr 11, 2016
By Douglas Perry | The Oregonian/OregonLive
https://www.oregonlive.com/living/2016/04/little_beirut_legacy_20_of_the.html
Last month, Portland State students disrupted a university governing-board meeting, forcing board members to retreat to a bunker -- er, unmarked basement conference room -- to vote on a proposed tuition increase. Was it one of the more memorable protests in our local history? No, but that’s because Portland sets a high bar. The Rose City is known around the world for its demonstrations. On the pages that follow we offer up some of the most interesting, strange and meaningful Portland protests ever.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/07/21/portland-feds-protests/
Violent protest clashes turned Portland into a ‘right-wing boogeyman.’ Here’s how it happened.
By
Katie Shepherd
July 21, 2020 at 6:41 a.m. EDT
The most recent national focus on Portland as a hub of clashes between police, left-wing protesters and right-wing agitators began in November 2016, when the city erupted into large, and at times unruly, protests after Trump’s unexpected victory. Police deployed tear gas and arrested hundreds, as a small group of anarchists shattered windows and sprayed graffiti on buildings.
About six months later, the city was mourning the killing of two men on a light-rail train in a hate crime when a far-right group known to attract neo-Nazis and white supremacists held an “anti-antifa” rally days after the slaying. When more than 2,000 Portlanders marched against the right-wing extremists, police detained almost 400 people and took photos of their IDs.
That incident set off nearly two years of costly protests that frustrated police and the public. Far-right groups not from Portland repeatedly held rallies and marches throughout the city during the summer of 2017, congregating in June, August and September. Local counterdemonstrators showed up in droves.
A familiar pattern developed: Hours of peaceful protests would eventually deteriorate. Sometimes, physical fights broke out between anti-fascist activists and far-right extremists who came to town openly advocating violence. More often, the left-leaning crowds clashed with the police.
Oregon has prominent place on Southern Poverty Law Center's new list of U.S. hate groups
Updated May 17, 2019; Posted Feb 21, 2018
https://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/2018/02/oregon_plays_prominent_role_in.html
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) declared today that the white-supremacy movement continues to expand in the U.S. -- as does violence by white-nationalist groups.
The civil-rights and legal-advocacy nonprofit said in its just-published "Year in Hate" report that the U.S. had 954 active hate groups in 2017, a 4-percent increase from the year before. The sheer number of such organizations in the country, ranging from "alt-right" to black nationalist, is notable. But the SPLC says its list "understates the true level of hate in America, because a growing number of extremists, particularly those who identify with the alt-right, operate mainly online and may not be formally affiliated with a hate group."
Oregon, with its population of just over 4 million, appears to have a disproportionate number of hate-based organizations within its borders. (The U.S. overall has nearly 325 million people.) Below are the SPLC-listed hate groups that are based in or have chapters in Oregon or southwestern Washington. Some of the organizations on the list dispute the center’s definition of them.
“Generally,” writes the SPLC, antigovernment groups “define themselves as opposed to the ‘New World Order,’ engage in groundless conspiracy theorizing or advocate or adhere to extreme antigovernment doctrines.” The center makes clear that their inclusion in its hate-group report “does not imply that the groups themselves advocate or engage in violence or other criminal activities, or are racist.” Here are the ones in Oregon, according to the SPLC:
III%ers Security Force, III% United Patriots, American Patriot Party, American Patriots III%, Central Oregon Constitutional Guard, Embassy of Heaven, Freedom Bound International, Freedom from Government, Heirs of Patrick Henry, John Birch Society, McCutcheons Ink., News With Views, Oath Keepers, Southern Oregon Constitutional Guard, Spectre Training Group,
Three Percenters-III%ers, The Voice of Freedom, You Have the Right
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