Clash of far right, ‘antifa’ puts liberal city in spotlight

PORTLAND, Ore. — Viral videos of bloody skirmishes between right-wing activists and self-described anti-fascists have drawn national attention to Portland, Oregon, a city of storied political activism that has struggled to keep the peace at dueling rallies illustrating a microcosm of the nation’s political division.

Tensions erupted most recently this month when members of the so-called “antifa” movement showed up at a march organized by a right-wing group called Patriot Prayer.

Police made four arrests June 3 in and around the parks.

Although Patriot Prayer isn’t considered a white supremacist or hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, its members march alongside right-wing groups promoting freespeech rights by rejecting political correctness, said Ryan Lenz, an SPLC spokesman.

Those marches have drawn a forceful reaction from a left-wing movement known as the antifa that is dedicated to rooting out neo-Nazis and white supremacists, Lenz said.

Patriot Prayer also has held marches and rallies in many other cities around the western U.S. that have drawn violent reactions. But the Portland events have taken on outsized significance because of the stabbing deaths a year ago of two men who came to the defense of two young black women — one in a hijab — who were being harassed on a light-rail train by a Patriot Prayer sympathizer.

The man charged in the deaths, Jeremy Christian, was filmed making the Nazi salute at a Patriot Prayer rally a month before the killings.

In the aftermath, Patriot Prayer leader Joey Gibson organized a free-speech rally supporting President Donald Trump that attracted thousands from both sides to downtown Portland.

Gibson said his followers are not racist but want the right to express themselves safely in a city that’s very liberal. He hopes to put on another rally as soon as next month in an attempt to promote confrontation.