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14 arrested as Portland's extremes collide in protest
14 arrested as the many extremes of Portland collide in protest
Story highlights
- Arrests concentrated in area of counterdemonstrators
- Police disperse counterprotest amid growing unrest
Portland, Oregon (CNN)At
least 14 people were arrested on Sunday amid competing protests in
Portland, Oregon, over a tangled web of emotions to arise from a deadly
commuter train stabbing in May.
Hundreds
of supporters of US President Donald Trump converged on Terry D.
Schrunk Plaza for an event billed as a "Trump Free Speech" rally. They
were slightly outnumbered by a mixed assemblage of counterprotesters
across the street who viewed the free speech rally as an implicit
endorsement of racism given its close timing to the racially charged stabbing.
The
groups were separated by a wall of officers, heavily armed and wearing
protective body armor, from local and federal police agencies.
Police keep watch over competing protests in Portland, Oregon on Sunday.
What
began as a tense exchange of name-calling and profane insults took a
turn when counterdemonstrators began throwing glass bottles, bricks and
balloons of "foul-smelling liquid" at officers, Portland Police said.
Officers used pepper spray to push back the counterdemonstrators and
closed the park where they had gathered, threatening to arrest anyone
who remained.
Portland
Police could not confirm which side those arrested belonged to. CNN
crews on the scene observed that most of the arrests were concentrated
in the area of counterdemonstrators.
The
rallies come in the wake of the stabbing deaths of Ricky Best, 53, and
Taliesin Namkai-Meche, 23, as they tried to defend two Muslim women from
what police described as a barrage of hate speech.
Suspect Jeremy Joseph Christian raised the free speech issue in his arraignment Tuesday
"Get
out if you don't like free speech!" he shouted as he entered the
courtroom. "You call it terrorism; I call it patriotism. Die."
Police arrest a demonstrator during competing rallies in Portland, Oregon on Sunday.
Concerns raised early on
Tensions
continue to build in Portland as the incident has turned the city into
the latest battleground over free speech and race relations in the Trump
era.
"We
hope and pray that both sides try to keep in mind that in the big
picture it might be easy to forget with all the emotions running high
that we all have the same basic needs," Portland resident Margie
Fletcher told CNN.
Her son, Micah,
was wounded as he and the others tried to intervene in what Portland
police called "hate speech toward a variety of ethnicities and
religions" directed at two women on the train.
Christian
faces charges including two counts of aggravated murder, attempted
murder, two counts of second-degree intimidation and being a felon in
possession of a restricted weapon, police say.
Signs
of animosity among the groups holding rallies began to emerge last week
in online forums. The tensions put police on high alert and prompted
the mayor to call on the federal government to revoke the event
organized by a group called Patriot Prayer. Terry D. Schrunk Plaza is
federal property where guns are barred.
"I'm a strong supporter of the First Amendment no matter what the views are that are being expressed," Mayor Ted Wheeler told HLN on Friday, "but given the timing of this rally, I believed we had a case to make about the threats to public safety."
Federal officials declined the request, saying there was no legal basis to revoke the permit.
Protester: A vote for Trump not hate speech
Wheeler
also called on protest organizer Joey Gibson to postpone the event.
Gibson told CNN the event was planned before the stabbings and that
Patriot Prayer had nothing to with Christian. It was about taking a
stand for President Trump and free speech in a liberal part of the
country.
He
said his group is not racist or alt-right and it should not be held
responsible for the actions of counterdemonstrators, many of whom
identified as anti-fascists.
Antifascist demonstrators confront pro-Trump demonstrators in Portland.
Anti-facists
have become a recurring presence at events testing the limits of free
speech. They were blamed for riots that led to the cancellation of
conservative firebrand Milo Yiannopoulos' scheduled talk at The
University of California, Berkeley, and have shown up at events
featuring Ann Coulter.
They tend to equate such events with fascism and Nazis, messaging that was evident in signs declaring "No more Nazis."
On
each side protesters carried signs reflecting a variety of causes.
Counter-demonstrators chanted expletive-ridden slogans denouncing Trump.
They carried signs proclaiming "Supporters of Trump are traitors to
America" and "Freedom ends where harm begins."
Counterprotesters interrupt a pro-Trump rally in Portland on Sunday.
Across the street, Trump supporters waved "Make America Great Again" signs and wore the corresponding red hats.
In
addition to the arrests, a large pickup truck flying two large American
flags cruised past hundreds of anti-fascist protesters and honked its
horn. Several people in the group ran up to the truck and ripped out the
flags, bringing them into the crowd as others applauded. Others threw
multiple large water bottles, sticks and other projectiles at the truck,
which then sped away.
One
Trump supporter said she was marching in support of "free speech" after
the mayor's attempt to silence the Patriot Prayer event. Another
wearing a "Police Lives Matter" T-shirt said she wanted to "reverse the
lies" surrounding Trump supporters.
Debbie Sluder says she came out to bring people together.
"Just because we voted for Trump doesn't equal hate speech," Debbie Sluder said.
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