A group calling itself Occupy ICE has been camped out near the entrance of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in Portland. The office was shut down for the past 8 days over security concerns. Today, Department of Homeland Security officers moved in to clear out a portion of the camp set up in the building’s driveway. There were some confrontations with police and at least 8 people were arrested. From the Oregonian:
Shortly after 6 a.m., dozens of officers, some in riot gear, were lined up on the streets and outside the building entrance. Macadam had been blocked by police vehicles.
A pile of what appeared to be parts of the camp was in the street, and officials loaded much of it into a truck and hauled it off.
By 7:30 a.m., the camp immediately surrounding the headquarters had been torn down. But much of the camp on adjacent properties remained.
Dozens of protesters continued to mill around Southwest Bancroft Street and Moody Avenue. They heckled officers a line of officers blocking access to the headquarters, but no clashes had been observed.
This protester yelling “Shame!” reminds me of those screaming goat videos on YouTube:
Some of the people working nearby are glad to see the police:
https://twitter.com/itsmikebivins/status/1012363897628573702
The flag is back up at the building. Protesters didn’t like that and booed:
https://twitter.com/itsmikebivins/status/1012373998842228738
Notice what the protesters have spray painted on the wall in the first pic below: “Bring back the guillotine.”
https://twitter.com/itsmikebivins/status/1012360635844157440
While the driveway of the ICE facility has been cleared out, according to the Occupy ICE twitter feed, the main camp across the street is still there.
https://twitter.com/OccupyICEPDX/status/1012352790453080064
This wasn’t an oversight. According to a Washington Post report yesterday, police were intent on allowing protests to continue while also reopening the ICE facility:
Robert Sperling, a Federal Protective Service spokesman, confirmed that right now “a collection” of FPS officers and ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations officers are inside the office building “ensuring the security of the facility.” Sperling said protesters have not tried to enter the building but “we have had people trying to barricade the doors so that anybody inside can’t get out.”
He said the warnings that have been given to protesters detail possible charges they could face for obstructing the facility. “Frankly, it’s kind of up to them at this point,” he said. Sperling said there is no timeline for arrests, but discussions in his office, he says, revolve around “how do we continue to mitigate the impact, while allowing them to continue to express their narrative?”
There’s nothing the extreme left loves more than a filthy tent city. Here’s a look inside the main camp published yesterday by the Oregonian.
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