OPPOSING RALLIES MOSTLY PEACEFUL IN PORTLAND

Officials feared Proud Boys event would spur violence

Hundreds of law enforcement agents swept across Portland on Saturday, making targeted arrests, shutting down intersections and seizing weapons in a largely successful effort to keep opposing political rallies across the city from erupting into violent conf lict.

A rally organized by the Proud Boys — a far-right group notorious for engaging in brawls — had led Gov. Kate Brown to declare a state of emergency ahead of the events, which also included rallies organized by local protest groups whose members had announced that the outside group was not welcome.

At the Proud Boys gathering, where some people wore tactical gear and carried weapons, there was some brief conflict when a handful of outsiders arrived and were quickly surrounded by a crowd. Video posted by a local journalist showed a man kicking someone who had been knocked to the ground. Police said they were investigating the assault.

About half a mile away, on the other side of Interstate 5, about 200 people gathered peacefully with Black Lives Matter flags and made presentations about the history of that corner of the city, where many Black families first established roots during World War II.

Dre Miller, an activist with one of the organizing groups, said the groups had been approached by city officials asking them not to go forward because of the possibility of conflict. But he said the group took precautions, including setting up a car caravan to minimize chances of conf lict as ralliers departed.

And by sticking to their goals of highlighting the history of racism in the neighborhood where the Proud Boys had scheduled their rally, he said, the gathering was one of the most peaceful he had been to in recent weeks.

The Proud Boys chairman, Enrique Tarrio, said he was grateful that the police presence — estimated by the Oregon State Police at 500 officers — had kept the groups apart.

“We got all of our speakers on stage, we got to say what we wanted to say, we did what we wanted to do, and now we’re out of town,” Tarrio said Saturday afternoon.

Political and law enforcement officials had expressed fears that Saturday’s competing events could become violent, as they have in weeks and years past, especially with recent gunshots fired by both sides on the streets of Portland and the tensions of a presidential campaign.

But what was setting up to be a violent showdown in the middle of downtown Portland began to change when the Proud Boys altered their plans, moving their rally to a relatively remote park on the northern edge of the city, while groups such as Rose City Antifa announced that they would gather at a different park miles away.