Antifa militants try to shut down Riley Gaines, TPUSA event at Portland State, 5 arrested

Arrests were made on Monday night after Antifa and far-left militants at a Turning Point USA Riley Gaines speaking event at Portland State University assaulted police officers, attempted to break into the building, and harassed attendees. 

Five people were arrested during the event for various crimes, the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) stated. Police at the university requested the assistance of the Portland Police Bureau at around 7 pm local time for crowd support outside the Smith Memorial Student Union Building. The arrests were made over the next hour and a half after police arrived on scene. 

Among those arrested was trans-identified male Emery Rose Hall, who was charged with disorderly conduct and criminal mischief, both of which are misdemeanors. Hall was released without bail. In May 2021, Hall was charged in connection with a Portland Antifa riot, but charges were dropped. Also arrested were 25-year-old Garrett Walker Redmond, 27-year-old Levi Mika Ewing, and 20-year-old Brian Philippe Michaelis on criminal mischief charges, and 24-year-old Chiara Loni Jacob on a harassment charge. All were released.

Ahead of the event featuring Gaines, a women’s sports advocate and former University of Kentucky swimmer, far-left and pro-Gaza agitators advertised a counter-event to take place as Gaines was set to start speaking. A flyer read, "PSU, stop promoting transphobia! Rally to kick Riley Gaines off campus. Defend trans rights!"

The event was held by Students for a Democratic Society, student group CLASS, the PSU Student Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines, the PSU Young Democratic Socialists, and PSU Students United for Palestinian Equal Rights.

Gaines wrote in response to the flyer, "Lots of things I'm scared of—spiders, clowns, etc—but a man in a dress will never be one of them."

Agitators were seen attempting to break into the building where Gaines was speaking, trying to fight through police who were trying to close the doors to the building. Many were seen wearing masks, and some wore keffiyahs. One person held a sign that read, "I’ve seen more impressive Gaines from shake weight." Agitators were seen waiting outside the venue for attendees and Gaines to come out.

Far-left agitators were seen shouting and confronting attendees of the event outside the venue, including one man who yelled into a megaphone, "there’s a Nazi right f*cking here and y’all not gonna do nothing about it." He then took off his vest and ran up to a man. Among those seen in attendance were convicted felon Alyssa Azar, as well as violent Antifa member John Hacker.

Gaines is set to speak at the University of Washington on Tuesday night. At the school’s Seattle campus on Monday night, Antifa militants occupied the brand new Interdisciplinary Engineering building and blockaded the doors and the streets, setting them street blocks on fire.