Armed Trump fans face off against leftists in Oregon
Despite Joe Biden being named President-elect, Donald Trump supporters vowed to back the outgoing president at a rally in Salem, Oregon, on Saturday.
Many carried shotguns and automatic weapons, and with right- wing group the Proud Boys in attendance, the event several times threatened to spill over into violence.
Speakers took to the steps outside the State Capitol building, promising to back Mr Trump and refusing to recognise Mr Biden as the winner of the tense and hotly contested election.
Republican Jo Rae Perkins, who lost the Oregon Senate seat to Democrat Jeff Merkley, spoke to the hundreds of supporters who had gathered in the drizzle, urging them to stick by Mr Trump.
“Until those votes are certified, and until January 20 – and hopefully beyond – Donald Trump is still our president,” she said. “And thank God, quite literally, that Amy Coney Barrett is now [Supreme Court] justice. This election will go to the Supreme Court. We know there is corruption in other states, and we have strong suspicions there is corruption here in Oregon, but we need to prove it.”
After another speech, by a local doctor who boasted that neither he nor his staff had ever worn a face mask and that Covid-19 was “no more”, chants of “USA! USA!” rippled around the crowd.
The rally, which had been organised under the banner StopTheSteal, started at noon, with the stragglers ordered to leave at about 6pm by police, about an hour after about 200 Black Lives Matter and leftwing marchers arrived at the scene.
The BLM protest was delayed by fears of violence because of the number of weapons taken to the pro-Trump rally, but leaders eventually led campaigners to the front of the State Capitol building, where the president’s supporters were gathered.
Police formed a human wall to cordon off the Trump fans from the left-wing protesters, in an attempt to prevent violence. One group surrounded a man in his pickup and let the air out of his tyres, while the remaining Trump supporters were eventually told by police to leave. Two Black Lives Matter protesters were arrested after a crowd dispersal order was issued.
“This election happened and now I have to leave my house with a gun,” said Percy, a Trump supporter who wore a Make America Great Again cap backwards and had a handgun strapped to her thigh.
“I’m always concerned these events are going to turn violent – that’s why I don’t leave my house without my gun in case I have to use it. We don’t let our men hit women, we bring out our women to hit women and that’s exactly what I’m here to do now,” she said after a scuffle with a female counter-protester who was then pepper-sprayed.
A Trump supporter punched a male counter-protester in the face after claiming the man had hit his girlfriend. Police separated the pair using bicycles.
“I hope it stays calm and peaceful today,” Don, 50, who said he was not a member of the Proud Boys but was there to show his support for Mr Trump, told The National. “But we came prepared, so I guess we did expect something to happen. I’m a patriotic American who wanted to see a fair election,” he said.
“If we lose, fair and square, that’s fine … but there were just too many signs of corruption. It makes us very frustrated. We don’t stand for it, we don’t want that in our country.
“We’re here to show we’re unhappy. It’s not just the result of the election, it’s how it went. Ideally, I’d like Trump to continue to be our president.”