Portland protest standoff goes on
Judge denies Oregon’s request to restrict federal agents’ actions
Apersistent crowd of protesters remained outside the federal courthouse in Portland, Oregon, into the early hours yesterday as fireworks were shot at the building and plumes of tear gas, dispensed by US agents, lingered above.
Thousands of people gathered in Portland streets hours after a US judge denied Oregon’s request to restrict federal agents’ actions when they arrest people during protests that have roiled the city and pitted local officials against the Trump administration.
By 8pm hundreds of people, most wearing masks and many donning helmets, had already gathered near a fountain, one spot where groups meet before marching to the Hatfield Federal Courthouse and the federal agents there. They chanted and clapped along to the sound of thunderous drums, pausing to listen to speakers.
Among various organised groups, including Healthcare Workers Protest, Teachers against Tyrants, Lawyers for Black Lives and the “Wall of Moms,” was Portland Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty, who spoke to protesters outside the Justice Centre.
By 9.40pm crowds of people, pressed shoulder to shoulder, packed the streets chanting “Black Lives Matter” and “Feds go home” as they carried signs and marched to the courthouse.
The Federal agents, deployed by President Donald Trump to tamp down the unrest, have arrested dozens during nightly demonstrations against racial injustice that often turn violent. Democratic leaders in Oregon say federal intervention has worsened the two-month crisis, and the state attorney general sued to allege that some people had been whisked off the streets in unmarked
vehicles.
US District Judge Michael Mosman said the state lacked standing to sue on behalf of protesters because the lawsuit was a “highly unusual one with a particular set of rules”.
Oregon was seeking a restraining order on behalf of its residents to prevent injuries by federal officers in the future. That makes the standard for granting such a motion very narrow, and the state did not prove it had standing, Mosman wrote.
A lawsuit from a person accusing federal agents of violating their rights to free speech or against unconstitutional search and seizure would have a much higher chance of success, Michael Dorf, a constitutional law professor at Cornell University, said ahead of the ruling.
The clashes in Portland have further inflamed the nation’s political tensions and triggered a crisis over the limits of federal power as Trump moves to send US officers to other
Democratic-led cities to combat crime. It’s playing out as Trump pushes a new “law and order” reelection strategy after the coronavirus crashed the economy.
Protesters in Portland have been targeting the federal courthouse, setting fires outside and vandalising the building that US authorities say they have a duty to protect.
Federal agents have used tear gas, less-lethal ammunition that left one person critically injured and other force to scatter protesters.
Mayor Ted Wheeler and other local leaders said a small cadre of violent activists were drowning out the message of peaceful protesters. But the Democrat, who was teargassed this week as he joined protesters, says the federal presence is exacerbating a tense situation and he’s repeatedly told them to leave.
Homeland Security acting Secretary Chad Wolf denied that federal agents were inflaming the situation in Portland and said Wheeler legitimised criminality by joining demonstrators, whom Trump has called “anarchists and agitators.” —AP