The Portland Police Association (PPA), the main police union that protects and advances the interests of rank-and-file members of the PPB, has been regularly targeted by Antifa and BLM mobs since the rioting in the city began, because of their opposition to the kinds of police “reforms” that Black Lives Matter activists wish to see implemented, such as the defunding, disarming and, eventually, the abolition of the police.
Before this, on July 18, a large mob even attempted to burn down the PPA’s main office building, which is located in a residential area. Meanwhile, on Friday, August 14, demonstrators had tried to march on the building but were prevented from doing so thanks to heavy PPB presence.
The evening’s rioting began when organizers began asking for people to gather at Kenton Park in the North Portland neighborhood. The organizers called on people to join them for a “direct action march.” This group left the park at around 10 p.m. after the crowd swelled to around 100 people. From here, they started marching south towards the PPA’s office building.
During their march to the PPA building, police reports heard them chanting violent slogans such as “Black Lives Matter,” “No justice, no peace!” and “What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now! If we don’t get it? Burn it down!” (Related: “Kill a cop, save a life:” Portland rioters chant and cheer for the MURDER of police officers.)
BLM rioters storm police union building
By the time the violent mob made its way to the PPA building, its numbers had doubled to include over 200 demonstrators. As soon as they arrived, they started causing chaos for the area.
Several vehicles that marched with the rioters blocked off parts of the street coming up to the building and started blasting the building with music and speeches. Other members of the crowd started spray painting the plywood that PPA members erected to protect the building’s exteriors.
As this was occurring, several members of the group broke off from the crowd to smash several windows on the nearby building. According to police reports, at least one person tried to break into the property.
Before 10:45 p.m., police reported that several members of the mob entered the PPA building through a broken window and robbed it of several dozen baseball caps, which they immediately handed out to the other demonstrators. Using a loudspeaker, police issued a warning to address the behavior.
A little before 11 p.m., PPB issued another warning regarding another attempted break-in of the building. The crowd was momentarily dispersed as a squad of officers made their way through the mob to inspect the damage done on the building. It turned out that the window the earlier burglars came through was used by another individual to snake a hose into the building in an attempt to flood it. The PPB has not released a report on how much damage was done to the union’s office building.
While the PPB’s approach to the building was relatively peaceful, thanks to the aid of around a dozen support officers who held back the crowd, the individuals that investigated the office were unable to head back to the police lines due to the arrival of a large number rioters. The mob surrounded the PPB officers and started getting aggressive. One individual threw a bottle at the police, which forced the PPB to respond in kind by releasing a smoke canister and firing pepper balls.
PPB officials told their troops in the area to “deescalate the situation” and to avoid getting entangled in any altercations with the mob. This was done to prevent further violence.
By this time, the crowd had reportedly dwindled to around only 100 people. They remained in the area for a while longer, but by 12:30 a.m., PPB reports stated that only several dozen people remained. No other instances of violence were reported.
Black Lives Matter facing internal opposition
Letha Winston, the mother of Patrick Kimmons, a 27-year-old man who was fatally shot by the police in self-defense in 2018 after he shot and wounded two other people, disagrees with the current tactics implemented by Antifa, Black Lives Matter and their affiliate organizations.
According to Winston, in order to draw more people to the cause of actually fighting racial justice, Black Lives Matter should avoid destroying private property and sitting around outside of the police union’s building. “Sitting down ain’t getting justice,” she said. Instead, she argues that they should be organizing peaceful marches through residential neighborhoods.
“When you take it to the streets and you start marching around residential areas, waking up a [expletive] neighbor, that’s what’s going [expletive] up [expletive]. Wake up the neighbors! Let them know Black lives matter! Tell them you know you’re ready to take your streets back.”
Winston’s public disavowal of the tactics currently employed by the main organizers of the city’s Black Lives Matter chapter represents a rift in the movement, and this may spill out into internal divisions if they are left unresolved.
Despite these divisions growing within Black Lives Matter, their organization is still growing. Learn more about their recent exploits in cities such as Seattle, Chicago and Portland at Rioting.news.
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