It was a mistake, an unfortunate bit of phrasing.
Or was it?
On Nov. 22, three law-enforcement officials testified before
City Council in what should have been a routine appearance.
Two Portland police officials and an FBI supervisor were
requesting permission for the FBI to join Portland police
in a special unit called the Portland Joint Terrorism Task
Force.
But the language of the ordinance was striking. "The mission
of the PJTTF," it read, "is to identify and target for prosecution
those individuals or groups who are responsible for Right
Wing and/or Left Wing movements, as well as the acts of
the anti-abortion movement and the Animal Liberation Front/Earth
Liberation Front."
The wording of the unit's mission statement--which said
nothing about criminal activity, only political activity--struck
some as downright creepy.
"This sounds like something out of the Nixon Administration,"
said City Commissioner Charlie Hales, who quickly introduced
and passed a motion nixing all references to movements.
The council then agreed to allow the Federal Bureau of Investigation
to electronically access photographs gathered by Portland
police.
Police say that the mission statement was just a poor choice
of words. Still, for some observers, the proposed language
was troubling. And events that took place two days later
only seemed to raise more questions.
Shortly before Thanksgiving, Portland police received information
that a number of protesters would be appearing at Lloyd
Center to show support for Buy Nothing Day, a yearly protest
against consumerism. On that day, Nov. 24, two WW reporters
observed police beginning to move against the protest before
it even began.
At about 2 pm, Officer James Stradley drove his car into
Holladay Park, just south of the Lloyd Center Mall. Stradley
walked up to three young men sitting on a park bench and
carrying signs. Stradley told Jamey Billig, a young man
with bleached hair, that he had illegally ridden his bike
on the sidewalk. "You dropped sticks earlier and then picked
them up," added Stradley. "That could be viewed as littering."
Stradley served Billig with a 30-day park-exclusion notice,
adding, "Have a nice day." In all that day, officers cited
seven activists outside the Lloyd Center for everything
from jaywalking to failing to signal a turn while on a bike.
Robert Rittman, a long-haired would-be protester, was given
a ticket for failing to give a turn signal and allegedly
turning against the light on his bicycle. "They managed
to not pull over any of the cars that were violating the
turn signal," said Rittman. "This just seems like a classic
case of political harassment to me."
At one point Officer Kent Scott ordered a group of protesters
to move off the sidewalk; most did. One of them, Michael
McMullin, said that he was not blocking anyone; he was in
fact on a grass median. He was handcuffed and carried upside
down to the back of a squad car.
At the protest's peak, a total of 18 protesters carried
signs, handed out leaflets and advised people about the
evils of capitalism. They were watched by six police officers
standing nearby, seven mall security guards across the street
and at least five circling police cars. Eventually, the
protesters tired of the scrutiny, put their signs down and
chose instead to play soccer in the park.
Northeast Precinct Cmdr. Derrick Foxworth says police were
reacting to intelligence reports that Lloyd Center would
be targeted for vandalism and other crimes. There was no
attempt to target activists, he says, only "criminal behavior."
Later that evening, approximately 35 bicyclists participated
in a monthly ride dubbed Critical Mass, a protest designed
to call attention to the rights of bicyclists. After beginning
at 6 pm, the protest turned onto Southwest Front Avenue.
Some cyclists had gone no more than 10 yards before being
intercepted by a wave of 12 motorcycle officers. The officers
literally grabbed at cyclists, knocking at least three of
them to the pavement; one officer grabbed a woman by a scarf
as she was riding. During the next hour, officers wrote
at least eight citations to Critical Massers, including
several for improper lighting.
"We've had fairly significant numbers of folks in the past
who are not bashful about disrupting traffic," said Bruce
Prunk, an assistant chief of police, pointing to an Oct.
27 Critical Mass event that drew 300 people. Prunk was echoed
by Central Precinct Cmdr. Larry Findling, who said the October
event had involved riders pounding on moving cars and riding
in traffic in a dangerous manner.
Protesters in Portland have long complained that because
of their exercise of the First Amendment, they've been targeted
for intimidation through selective enforcement of various
misdemeanors. The events of Nov. 24 did nothing to counter
that claim.
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