Portland mayor gaslights city as Antifa violence continues

Portland Mayor and Police Chief Ted Wheeler announced plans for community action to end the violence that has spiked in the city in the wake of George Floyd's death, while Antifa militants targeted the Portland Police Bureau's Penumbra Kelly Building.

Wheeler has been reticent to control or contend with the violence that has been plaguing his city for more than two months. He noted the crime wave and the dramatic increase in gun violence that city had seen in July.

"The worst our community has seen in the last 30 years," he wrote. He said that families are grieving "unimaginable loss," while "others continue to live in fear." Whether he means from the crime or the pandemic, he did not say.

"I'm concerned for the health, safety and welfare of everyone in our community," Wheeler said, before stating his commitment to create a "community-based solution that will save lives."

He urged the Police Bureau and the Office of Violence Prevention, and the community to come together to make this happen.

Despite Wheeler's call for community action toward an end to violence, last night Antifa black bloc took their civil action to a Portland police building away from the downtown area. They shut down streets and engaged with law enforcement, using paint, laser, fists, and a stick, according to Andy Ngo. Only two were arrested.

A live stream showed the activist action outside at a Portland police building on E. Burnside and 47th Street, the Penumbra Kelly Building. Much of the civil unrest has been outside the Mark O. Hatfield federal courthouse, inside of which federal officers have been barricaded. However, on Monday night, agitators and activists moved their disobedience and baiting of law enforcement to this new location.

As the night wore on into morning, the action was declared to be an unlawful assembly by the Portland Police Bureau. Agitators and activists were asked to clear the area.

They did not leave, as asked. Instead, Antifa agitators barricaded themselves behind picnic benches, using them as shields and a means to block the road to prevent anyone from entering or leaving the area.

When agitators refused to disperse per the instruction of law enforcement, they were arrested.

Agitators resisted arrest as police cleared the street.

The police building on SE Burnside is reported to be a new and recurring target of agitator and activist activity.

The community that Wheeler calls upon to help bring order back to the city was instead out blocking roads in the middle of the night. What Wheeler did not do in his Twitter thread was address those agitators and activists who have been out on the streets every night for more than two months causing destruction and clashing with both local and federal law enforcement agents.

While Wheeler, and Oregon Governor Kate Brown, have been actively imposing restrictions due to contagion concerns, the members of the community in Portland have been gathering every night, flouting the new norms, and engaging in massive civil disobedience.

The comments on Wheeler's thread downplay the violence and the threats the the community. A very vocal part of the Portland community appears to be more interested in Wheeler's resignation that working with him to address the unrest in their city.

When Wheeler spoke to the gathered protest community during one of their nightly attacks on the Mark O. Hatfield federal courthouse, which has been a flash point for Antifa militants and rioters, it became a struggle session.