A coalition of progressive Portland groups called on U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate the city police bureau the day after officers employed a controversial crowd control tactic to detain more than 100 people during a demonstration.
The Oregon Justice Resource Center, ACLU of Oregon and the state chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations on Saturday called the Portland Police Bureau’s use of kettling “aggressive and indiscriminate.”
Previous Story: Portland police detain more than 100 in Friday night lawlessness
The groups say the agency uses the tactic exclusively on left-leaning groups and reiterated long-standing criticism that Portland police treat such demonstrators much more harshly than right-wing protesters.
“What is PPB’s response when our community demands safety and justice? They repeatedly engage in violent and unconstitutional tactics that morally compel the community to respond through protest, mutual aid, legal action and legislation,” the groups said in a statement.
They called for the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate “ongoing civil rights abuses that local and federal law enforcement are committing in Portland.” They also demanded that state lawmakers support police reform bills backed by the 12-member Black, Indigenous and People of Color Caucus in the Oregon Legislature.
“Law enforcement traumatization of our community must be stopped,” they said.
Protesters gathered in the Pearl District on Friday for a direct action march with no specified target, though an online poster promoting the gathering was illustrated with the logo for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security with a red line through it.
Shortly after the march began, officers began corralling demonstrators and detaining those within the kettle boundaries.
The tactic has long been criticized. In January, two federal judges tossed a pair of civil suits challenging police use of kettling during protests in downtown Portland in the summer of 2017.
Police spokesperson Sgt. Kevin Allen said the bureau had “reasonable suspicion” that everyone inside the kettle perimeter had “committed at least one criminal violation.”
—Eder Campuzano
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go pound sand you anti american pigs!
““Law enforcement traumatization of our community must be stopped,” they said”. Who are the idiots that traumatized innocent people, by assaulting these innocent people, by assaulting police officers, by stealing, by robbing people, by looting and by destroying property? Oh, they are called antifa and blm, with both antifa and blm known as communists. The lowest form of toxic waste in our society. When antifa and blm look in the mirror, they will see “mass trauma and toxic waste”.
THE victims of all those riots, do NOT MATTER to leftists. Never have, never will..
“aggressive and indiscriminate.”
Not aggressive enough and certainly not indiscriminate. Only rio…er…mostly peaceful protesters were arrested. (Police have been using this tactic for decades. No one was wimp enough to complain until now.)
They big issue is that snowflakes believe the police were actually putting protesters in kettles and cooking them.
They were there to destroy the federal building with personnel inside. Aggressively trying to save people from being burned alive, I say they didn’t go far enough in the aggressive department. You don’t want agreesive tactics, don’t violate the friggin’ law.
So true.. IMO EVERYONE there, trying to burn the building (WITH FOLK INSIDE) down, should have been HOSED DOWN with liquid nitrogen!
HOW”s about we arrest these WHINERS…
When liberals attack a federal building including trying to burn it down they are given a free pass from prosecution and consequences. When a small group of conservatives ‘stormed’ the Capitol and did nothing more than walk through the building, do some property damage (hey, in Minneapolis the liberals said ‘it’s only stuff’ after the riots), and take some photos they are prosecuted and one even murdered in cold blood. Talk about a double standard.
Not just that, but we saw MANY DEMS flat out CHEERING on the rioting and burning. BUT DID WE SEE A SINGLE GOP member, even coming anywhere CLOSE TO praising what the folks on Jan 6th did? HELL NO> They all stabbed us YET AGAIN in the back, by CONDEMNING US… Like good little cowards.
Allowing antifa to loot, riot and burn was all part of the “get rid of orange man” PsyOp. Now that Trump is gone, the idiots have outlived their usefulness. Now, order must be restored.