Last week, hundreds of Antifa rioters in Portland tried to set up border checkpoints in an area in the city's downtown neighborhood with the aim of setting up something similar to the self-proclaimed Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ), a seven-block police-free commune in Seattle. They tried to cut down any kind of fencing they could lay their hands on to create barricades.
On June 11, protests in Portland started out relatively peacefully, with thousands gathering at a demonstration at Revolution Hall at 6 p.m. However, by 11 p.m., the protests began turning violent. Rioters started throwing “commercial grade fireworks” at PPB officers as they were trying to set up their own autonomous zone in downtown Portland.
In response, the PPB began using flashbang grenades and declared the assembly an unlawful civil disturbance. They gave the rioters 15 minutes to disperse before they began making arrests. Around 12:30 a.m., some of the rioters returned, prompting the PPB to once again call their gathering a civil disturbance. Several more arrests were made, and the group dispersed on their own by 2 a.m. (Related: Downtown Seattle now run by an actual WARLORD who is accused of beating women and forcing them into sex acts... clueless Democrats celebrate warlord rule as new UTOPIA.)
During that violent night, 19 adults were arrested and one minor was briefly sent to juvenile detention before being released.
By Friday morning, any serious attempt to create an autonomous zone in Portland seems to have been squashed completely.
Antifa can create autonomous zones in other parts of the country
The move to create an autonomous zone in Portland, similar to the one in Seattle, does not seem to have as much support in Oregon. However, some residents have stated that it's possible because the city has had a history of demonstrators occupying parts of the city.
This doesn't mean Antifa provocateurs aren't working to create new autonomous zones in other parts of the United States. In Nashville, demonstrators attempted to create a “Nashville Autonomous Zone.” Fortunately, city officials and the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department (MNPD) did not make the same mistakes Seattle did.
Black Lives Matter demonstrators assembled at the Legislative Plaza in Nashville, with four main demands: Fire MNPD Chief Steve Anderson, defund the police, demilitarize the police and take down the city's “racist statues.”
According to the organizers, the rally was set to take place at “Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (formerly Legislative Plaza),” or right in front of the Tennessee State Capitol building, home of the Tennessee General Assembly and the office of Tennessee's Republican Governor Bill Lee.
For his part, Gov. Lee came out strongly against any attempt to recreate the anarchy in Seattle.
In a statement, Lee said:
“We encourage Tennesseans to exercise their First Amendment rights and have seen many examples of peaceful protests across our state in recent weeks. As demonstrations continue, we will continue to protect Tennesseans' right to peaceful assembly, while also reassuring citizens that lawlessness, autonomous zones and violence will not be tolerated. Further, Tennessee law expressly prohibits camping on state property not expressly designated as a campground area, and that law will be enforced.”
Other elected officials in Tennessee have made similar statements. Speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives Cameron Sexton said in a similar statement that peaceful protests and assemblies can continue, but that the state will stop any attempt to occupy state property.
The idea of carving out autonomous zones in the United States has been taken up enthusiastically by Antifa radicals across the country. There are even reports that rioters are trying to create an autonomous zone in other parts of the country, such as in Asheville, North Carolina.
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